What's Your Key to Success?

I thought it would be a good idea to start spotlighting a couple of posts that are buried in the archives. Some of you are fairly new to this site and others are lifelong followers (you are, aren’t you?). No matter what category you fall into, I’m sure there’s at least 1 article here you haven’t read. Today, I present to you, the very first blog post I’ve ever written. This is the post that started The Success Center so it’s actually one of my favorites. Enjoy it and leave a comment or two at the end to let me know why you love it, why you hate it, or even how it makes you feel below. Enjoy!

How Do You Define Success?

Is it living the good life with any choice of car, house, and favorite 5 star restaurants for dinner any night of the week? Is it the “American Dream” of having the perfect family, perfect dog, and perfect house with the white picket fence? What does it mean to be successful in your life?

Dictionary.com defines success in 2 interesting ways;

#1 – the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.

And

#2 – the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.

Let’s take a closer look at the first definition. Success is the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts (emphasis added) or endeavors. In short, that means that the failures are over and you made a victorious attempt at whatever it is you were trying to achieve. This is how world renowned leaders, prospering entrepreneurs, and others who get to that “next level” in life and become successful.

The second definition is a pretty standard answer that many people give time and time again. People who look at becoming successful by attaining wealth, a high position, honors, or the like will always be limited to achieving those “things” only. (Not that those things are bad, but if you dedicate your life to getting that and that alone . . . that’s all you’re going to get.) When you invest your talents, gifts, and skills to enhance other peoples’ lives you create value that will live on long after you’re gone from this world.

In the Bible, Jesus said, that “Man does not live on bread alone…” Back in the New Testament days bread was commonly used not only as food, but as an item for trade. That’s why, in this day and age, the slang term for money is bread. (I guess that will depend on where you’re from, but typically, in urban areas bread – or bread and butter – equals’ money.) Now, the context in which Jesus is speaking about bread is one in which He is tempted by the devil because of His physical hunger. But, the application of what Jesus said is still true to becoming successful. Jesus was saying that you can’t live by physically eating bread alone. There has to be a secondary and ultimate connection made in order to live. In being successful it can’t be for the money, position, or honors alone. It has to be for the man or woman standing next to you, your community, your family, and etc.

So my question for you remains the same, how do YOU define success? For me, I’m successful if I can positively impact someone else’s life or business by utilizing every gift or talent God has given me. I can’t define it for you, but I hope I’ve certainly steered you in the right direction. Remember;

• You’ve attained success when you have victoriously stopped all attempts to achieve whatever it is you’re trying to achieve in life. (Stopping with a smile is success and stopping with a frown is failure. Smile all the way through the process and keep going!)

• If you dedicate yourself to only attaining wealth, position, and honors then all you’re going to impact is your wallet. When you’re gone from this world the only thing that will remain will be your wealth (if any) and the lives you’ve affected!

• You can’t live on bread alone! There has to be another ultimate connection made in order for you to live and become successful. That connection is meant to bless someone else.

I want to challenge you to write down your definition of success for your life. It can be a sentence long, or even a paragraph long, it doesn’t matter. Think about where you are and where you want to be and sound off in the comments section below!

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