Redefining Success for the Business Minded
Success comes in so many forms, for many of us, success is associated with wealth, with the dollar figure in our bank accounts! For some, success is the ability to be with our families, for others, it’s how we spend our time, to have the complete freedom to do what we want, when we want, and how we want it! For others, it is the ability to give back through charitable means, through time, through donation, and even yet, it is our ability to set free out spiritual nature!
Success is perspective.
No one person will ever define success in the same way, no one person will create a path to success that has the exact same highs and lows as any one other person on the planet!
Success is the creation, and the creator. The path often unseen, and as Robert Frost would put it; “The road not taken.”
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry that I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim, because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay in leaves that no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first one for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubt if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
See, the difference, what we define Success as, and the pursuit of that difference, ultimately, is what makes all the difference in our lives! The road less traveled by Business, Sales, and Marketer, is what will make all the difference! But there are a few key “ground rules” to the pursuit of success, especially when you’re looking toward it in Business!
Success is an ethical dilemma
The one thing about Success that many Business owners, and if you’re in Marketing or Sales for another person, you are in the Business of people. Is that Success truly isn’t an option — you do not have a choice! This is further compounded when you take into account that many of us have families, children, and homes to uphold, this makes this reality that much stronger!
You have easy days, hard days, and days that seem to go off either without a hitch, or with the biggest downfalls you’re ever going to see in your career. But the one thing that many Business owners have to understand is that Success truly is never an option.
I can hear the chorus now saying that “Well, I went out of Business, that wasn’t success, so how can you say that?!”
I’m going to go into greater detail on that in a moment, but even in failure, we have to take our lumps, learn our lessons, redefine who we are, and ultimately, succeed! The redefinition and learning process is true success! So the mantra for failure simply isn’t “don’t fail” so much as “Fail faster!”
Your greatest adversities are going to put your “idea” of success to the test! They’re going to see you through trial and tribulation, accomplishment and heartbreak, stress your wallet, your family, your patience, and every other limit! But even in adversity, we have to find success!
Success has to be an ethical issue for you, something that keeps you awake at night yearning for more, wanting to pursue the very thing you define as success, to travel down the road less taken despite being beat up by every branch, twig, pitfall, wall, and animal in the way!
You have to keep moving forward, keep wanting more and ultimately, never give up in your pursuit of what it is you define as success! Your mental well being, your income, your family, and your personal ambitions all depend on your ability to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and carry forward!
There is no giving up, you’re only slowing down when you “think” that you have “officially” given up, and this is the mindset that I’m hoping to achieve for you today, to come to the realisation that you cannot ever stop, cannot ever give up, you only have the opportunity to choose at which speed you’re going to travel by!
On failure
Many moons ago, I had failed within an organization I was working for, nothing was going right for me, we weren’t doing everything that I had so easilly gotten used to which was — winning!
We were down on the year, down every month for 6 solid months straight, my team was feeling it, I was feeling it, our patience was wearing thin, and it was a turning point my career had ever seen!
You see, I had a choice, I could have either given up on my pursuit for a successful Sales and Marketing Career, or I could have done what so many others before me had done, packed up, gone home, and gone into something a little more “steady”. But I knew I had what it would take to turn things around, and slowly but surely, after a tremendous amount of stress, and might I add a little bit of hair loss, the waterline finally broke, the once submerged iceberg of success had risen and I was once again free to do what it was I did best, make money, and develop people!
That lesson came with a tremendous amount of heartache, but it also came with the steepest learning curve I’ve ever witness in my life! I could have chose to give up, but I figured that if I buckled down, and put twice as much into my career as before, eventually, something would have to give, and I would see it through the other side of the cave!
I still see that as a Success, because it was something that I had learned from, it was something that ultimately made me better for it, and something that has since helped me see pitfalls in my way long before pitfalls potentially ever could happen! It made me stronger, but I realised that success wasn’t an option, it was my duty to figure out how to be successful, my ethical obligation to my family!
You CANNOT give way to your worse judgement and the voices inside and outside of your head! Most of us in the Business of Business are eternal optimists, always excited about the next big thing, about achieving something more for ourselves, about besting our last best week, month, and year.
However, it happens from time to time that our internal “voice” tells us something completely different. This is compounded by those around us encouraging us with cutesy little saying like “It’s going to get better, relax.” And; “Try not to worry so much! You’re doing just fine.” When in reality we know that we’re resembling something like the Hindenburg!
Stuff that is said to us like this is only meant to help, but even someone encouraging you to “Slow down, give it a break, relax for a little bit.” Is telling you to “Give up” on what it is you’re working on!
The greatest minds in human history have NEVER given way to adversity, and they certainly have never given way to the distraction of being told to slow down!
We all go through a state of depression from being tried, and failing, at a very great many things! For some, they see that slump as the end of the world, and as a result, they travel through it very slowly! They fail to realise that the “slump” is almost just as big for everyone else, and the only way to get out of it, is to take a tremendous amounts of action!
We will all come across pitfalls in life, and how long you remain in the pitfall and away from what you define as success is COMPLETELY up to you! The only way to see yourself out the other side is to never stop pushing! This is going to create a great deal of discomfort and that is EXACTLY where you want to be! When you’ve hit a slump, oftentimes the things that create the most discomfort for you are the things that are going to see you out of the slump, and well on your way to success again!
It’s a rather large learning process, and sometimes it’s rather long! Sometimes it’s going to present you with even more adversity than you already could have imagined! But the adversity, and the discomfort are what are going to see you through!
Success in Business, Family, & Life
Outside of actively seeking to learn tremendous lessons from failure, I have to say something that too few children hear when they grow up!
“You are entirely responsible for your outcomes.”
I see people who blame their upbringing, their parents, their circumstances, their lifestyles, and their illnesses on where they are now! Are these contributing factors that sometimes cannot be ignored? Absolutely! But the reality is, you are first going to need to accept your outcome before you can truly define what it is Success means to you!
You owe it to yourself, your family, and your life to realise that where you are today is a direct result of you and only you, what you have done, the people you have chosen to surround yourself by, the care you have taken for your body! There is no changing that! If you truly reflect back on your life, there are a great many thing that you could have differently to create something more for yourself and your life, but you chose not to!
You have a choice. You always have, and you always will! So how is it you’re going to define your success moving forward? Taking an audit of your current situation and the choices that have led you to where you are is a tremendous way to realize what you have done wrong, but most importantly what you have done right!
I understand that it may hurt, that your body may prevent you from doing certain things because of disease, but you have to ignore the pain for the greater pain is the situation you are in, the dissatisfaction that you are facing and the life that you are currently leading! If you are desperate for change, you must do what creates the most discomfort, what hurts the most, in order to make that change for yourself, in order for you to better re-define your version of success.
It is entirely up to you and the choices that you make moving forward, the choices of your past no longer define you and I want you to challenge yourself to be better for yourself, and only yourself!
Other Definitions of Success:
Freedom of time :
For so many of us, myself included, I’m motivated by my freedom for time! I had a job, I had to work 50–70 hours a week at, no exceptions, it was a constant grind! But everyday that I woke up, got dressed, and went to my “schedule” was another reminder that day that I had the opportunity to create something more for myself, my ability to create my own schedule, work on my own time, and create when I said it was time to create, to produce when it was most convenient for me!
Don’t get me wrong, this does not mean that you’re not going to be working the same amount of time, that comes later, through a tremendous amount of work, that comes later! Chances are good that you’re going to be working even more! That’s ok! At the very least you have the option to choose when you’re working and how you’re working! No longer are barriers of time boundaries to a schedule of “open” and “closed”, you can choose the direction with which you sail your day!
It’s called freedom of time, and it is one way that I personally define success!
The ability to drop all of my appointments and schedule a fun parenting class with my daughter without having to ask someone, the ability to go out and make all of the recitals, and the lessons, the ability to truly love being a dad and to be able to show that to the world around me, the ability to take a vacation whenever I feel like it and not have to worry about blackout hours are a way I’ve come to define success!
For many, they would be willing to take a tremendous paycut for that kind of freedom, and I did, and it was the best decision I had ever made. Given time, and persistence, the paycut eventually didn’t matter! It eventually did pay me out to work for myself more than I could have asked for from any employer!
The life you deserve:
For many of us, it’s about the pursuit of the life that you feel like you deserve! This is often called the “quarter life/ mid life crisis” scenario! You know, where you freak out because you haven’t accomplished what you thought you would have accomplished!
I had one, I was pissed off that by the age of 25 I hadn’t written the book I had planned for the last 2 years after spending the better part of 10 years of participating in and training people on how to sell! I’ve had a very dissatisfied outlook on life because of it, and now, here I am, writing fervently to you to get it done!
But the reality is, if you want something more, you owe it to yourself to be successful and pursue that something, whatever it may be, to never give up on the vision of what you determine as “deserved” in your life!
We all work hard, but we all have our own definition of hard work! Figuring out the perfect combination of events in order to get where you want to be through that hard work is what is ultimately going to make you successful! The trial and error process to success. It is the mindset of the journey, not the destination that will create the life you deserve, teach you the lessons along the way that you need to learn, and grow you in a positive direction!
Peace of mind, and being content.
One of the last great points of difference to success is simply peace of mind. Being in a place of contentment, the ability to be perfectly happy with where you are in this very moment! To seek joy in the very second that you are in!
You see, for many, being content on just getting by, but being surrounded by family is one of the greatest forms of success that you could uphold! If you are a million dollars in debt, but you’re ok with that, and happy with the outcomes to have resulted from the choices you have made and where you are in that very moment, YOU HAVE WON.
I try to remind myself, briefly, everyday for all of the things that I am content about. The progression of my daughters overall health and welfare, my overall health, the fact that I can pay my bills and still afford tremendous things in my life without having to worry about money… when I remind myself of these things, I suddenly remember that the fact that I haven’t made it to 1000 clients in my Business yet doesn’t bother me so much!
Contentment is about being happy with yourself and where you are, and happy with the path that has gotten you there! To live life without regret of the reasoning for “you being you.” It is incredibly rare to come across someone so self-actualized (as Maslow would put it), that they are truly contented in the path in which they travel!
Many of us, once again, prefer to road less travelled, and the challenges and difference that it may bring! That is ok, you define your path, you define Success!
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” — Maya Angelou
Matthew Gourley is the CEO and Founder of Salestraininc.com — A company that specialize in making you money, growing your Business, and helping you achieve the freedom you deserve!
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