True Success

We are taught to believe that success typically means achieving a certain level of wealth, status or hitting some type of benchmark. Doing so can feel amazing, but we tend to neglect to consider why we want to obtain this particular success and how much do we actually enjoy the process of getting there. Success is defined by the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. But I would like to take it a step further and ask “What if true success was measured by not just the accomplishment achieved but by how much time we spend doing something we love? If we dread the process is it really success? I know many of you will have an issue with this saying there is nothing wrong with hard work or you can’t just go through life only doing what you enjoy, you need to be responsible and I fully agree but if you don’t love how you are spending your time getting there, are you really shooting for your own success or what you think is success?

If you are a weightlifter and absolutely dread going to the gym, don’t enjoy the sweat, grind and push of the workouts but feel like in order to be admired you need to have bulging muscles or constantly set new PR’s, are you really living an authentic life being true to who you are or are you feeding your insecurities? If you dread working at a job that stresses you out but it pays big bucks letting you live in a beautiful house, drive a fancy car or buy all kinds of toys, are you really living an authentic life being true to who you are or are you trying to buy happiness? On the contrary, if you spend all day playing video games, living in your parents basement or spend all of your free time binge watching Netflix because it makes you happy, are really living an authentic life being true to who you are, or are you avoiding living to your fullest potential because you don’t think you are capable of doing so?

Unfortunately this belief pattern now starts young with kids being told their success is determined by the grades they receive and the colleges they get accepted to instead of by learning to love the process of learning and time spent embracing the excitement of it. It’s no wonder the anxiety rates are skyrocketing but I will reserve that rant for another post to come. In the meantime, I challenge you to ask yourself the question, “Is reaching a goal, aim or purpose really considered a success if I was miserable in the process of doing so or am trying to obtain it for the wrong reasons?” These reasons can be brought on by influence of peers, pressures from society or trying to live up to parents expectations. For something to be considered a true success we should derive just as much, if not more pleasure from the time spent on it as the prize does itself and that is achieved by loving what we do because it is authentic for ourselves and no one else.