How do you define success?

Do you define it by wealth, status, or other accomplishments?

If you pay too much attention to media, then you’ll be constantly bombarded with messages about how you should define success. And you’ll begin to believe that if you don’t measure up to the most current views on success, then you’re unsuccessful and perhaps have even failed at life.

However, if you’re able to turn down somehow the volume of the popular views of success, then you can increase the likelihood of finding success that is meaningful to you.

Escaping or avoiding popular views of success isn’t easy. Even if you’re able to eliminate most media from your life, you’re still surrounded by people, and they will act as conduits between the cultural view of success and you. So, unless you’re willing to sacrifice almost all social interaction and embrace a hermit-like lifestyle, you really can’t avoid popular views of success.

So, if you can’t avoid them, how do you navigate them and still remain true to yourself?

I hinted at the answer earlier when I wrote about success that is meaningful to you. If you’re able to detach yourself from the common ideas about success and turn inward to focus on what’s intrinsically important to you, then you increase your chances of success as defined by you and not others.

Once you’re able to define what success is to you, then you’ll find yourself expending effort and pursuing your goals without seeking external validation of your efforts. You’ll move through life with the satisfaction of knowing that you are, as they say, marching to the beat of your own drum.

So, you have a choice to make. You’ll have to decide if you’ll pursue the success as defined by others or if you’ll commit to your own version of success. Neither path holds any guarantees, nor will they be easy. But if you follow your internal path, in the end, at least you’ll have the fulfillment of being true to yourself.

P.S. Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed it, please share it with one person you love.