Become Successful In Just 1,000 Words
Define success on your own terms
There are two ways to win at any game: mastering the rules, or breaking them. Mastering the rules is about reaching excellence in a game in which rules are set for you. Breaking the rules is about setting your own rules, the ones that will make you a winner de facto.
Why not contemplate this choice in every aspect of our lives? And why not contemplate this choice for perhaps the most important aspect of our lives: becoming successful? We all want to live a happy life and be successful in one way or another. This is where you should contemplate the choice you can make: are you currently trying to be successful based on the rules that have been set for you, or the rules that you set for yourself?
SPOILER ALERT! You won’t feel satisfaction from success that is not aligned with your own definition of success.
Let’s dive deeper!
The Success You Seek Is a Mirage
By reading these first paragraphs, you might feel really skeptical: “Can we really change the meaning of success to make ourselves successful?”, “Can we really just invent our own rules just like that?”, “Can we even survive if we break the rules of society?”. Yes, yes, and yes! You can invent your own rules, and I would encourage you to do so.
Why? Because right now, you might be chasing something that, deep down, you don’t care about. Perhaps, you are following the definition of success of your parents, friends, or people on social media. They created and set the rules for you and you accepted them.
What brought you to where you are right now? For example, in Indian society, there is a social expectation to go to IIT (the most prestigious school in India), move to the USA, and become the CEO of a prestigious company. Currently, Google is led by Sundar Pichai, Microsoft is led by Satya Nadella, and Adobe is led by Shantanu Narayen. The common points of these three men? They are all Indian. Is it what you truly want? Or is it what your parents and the society you grew up in want for you?
You can recognize external pressures and expectations by searching your memory for people telling you “You have to”, “You should”, “You must” or in the negative form. It could be as simply as:
- You have to get into the best school
- You must get this job
- You shouldn’t watch TV
After high school, I think I felt a sense of duty to get into the top 3 French engineering schools and then Ivy League. But when I look back, it feels like there was always the same force guiding me: I was aspiring to true freedom. I remember when I was younger I was thinking of leaving society once and for all and living like a hermit in some remote places of the Earth.
Once you free yourself from external pressures & expectations, fears & insecurities, the only thing that remains is your purest truth, your noblest identity, your Ideal Self.
Your Definition of Success
Fortunately, today is the day when you are going to stand up for yourself. You are going to stop accepting the rules set for you and start living your life following your own rules. So let’s get started!
What does success mean for YOU? Success is highly personal. Your definition will most probably be different from mine, from your friends’, and even from your partner’s. So stop looking at your neighbors, friends, and celebrities for a moment, and seek your truth within.
Ask yourself: what is it I want? Here are some examples of things that might resonate with you:
- “For me, success if about financial freedom”
- “For me, success is about having time to take care of myself and my loved ones”
- “For me, success is about becoming CEO of a major company”
- “For me, success is about being admired, respected, and looked up to”
- “For me, success is about being surrounded by people I love and who love me”
- “For me, success is about helping & empowering others”
- “For me, success is about living in harmony with nature and having a deep spiritual life”
Note how for some of these, success is defined as something gained (e.g., getting the title of a CEO), whereas for others it is defined as something experienced (e.g., taking care of your loved ones). They are different in nature but that doesn’t mean that one is better than the other. It is for you to feel it in your heart.
Let me share with you my own definition of success. I don’t do so to brag or tell you what success should be but to give you an example of how complex, deep, and diverse the definition of success can be for someone. So here it is! For me, success is about:
- embodying my values and my noblest identity every day
- achieving complete freedom i.e. working for my own company, from anywhere in the world, whenever I want to, and having the financial resources to live any experience I want to have
- traveling and discovering the world, new cultures, new landscapes, new people
- cultivating deep bonds with my wife, children, family, friends, and the wider community
- inspiring & empowering people to dare to become who they want to be
Again, there is no right or wrong definition. It’s what truly resonates in your heart.
Write Down What Success Means To You
It is your turn! Come up with your own definition of success, and feel free to share it in the comments. You can also ask any questions you might have.
Defining what success means to you is the very first step to a transformative change in your life. And for that, I want to say congrats! 🙌 You just took an important step in realigning your whole life to what truly matters to you. This is a big milestone!
Once you have defined what success means to you, and in other words what you want to get out of life, then it is time to shift everything in your life (e.g., choices, mindset,…) in order for you to become successful on YOUR own terms.
You can be successful right here, right now. Be successful on your own terms! So yes, today I am proud because I can say that I helped you to become successful!
Thank you for reading! 🙏 Keep going on the journey to becoming a Change Maker with tips delivered to your inbox! 😃
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