On a list of life’s quests most people would include success. It is one of those things that we all want but find hard to define.
My friend challenged me: “If you’re going to write about success shouldn’t you define it?” Maybe I should, but I am not so foolish as to try.
Success shares certain attributes with happiness. It is possible to achieve it and not know it. It is often identified with hindsight. It seems to be just over the next hill or around the next corner. You might not be able to define it but you’ll know it when you see it, or so you think. Those who achieve it can’t tell you how they did it – although they are happy to sell you a book about it.
I won’t try and define success but I will provide the ten things that, for me, help shape success.
- Satisfaction in what I’ve done.
- Interest in what I’m doing.
- Curiosity in what comes next.
- Understanding myself well enough to seek improvement.
- Knowing myself well enough to accept the flaws.
- Creating a personal sense of “enough”.
- Deciding on the difference between letting go and giving up.
- Using goals as benchmarks and guides.
- Avoiding being trapped or constrained by goals.
- Acknowledgement by peers.
You’ll note that there is a plurality to these elements; two sides of the same coin; a past and future sense. All but the last item are internal and that is deliberate.
Now that I’m thinking about it – this list might be identical to the ten attributes of happiness.