A New Definition of Success

I started blogging back on April 1st of 2005 with a goal in mind of learning more about success. I had just read a book by Gerard Smith, entitled "Celebrating Success," which is a compilation of letters from successful people in all walks of life from around the world. Each definition that I read brought new meaning... but none of them really hit home with me. I wanted to put into my own words what it means to be a success.

The standard dictionary description seemed to miss the mark.

It listed success as...

1. The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted

2. The attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.

The first definition seems to be right but it falls short. It describes the positive outcome of a goal, but is that what success is all about? From my experience, achieving a goal may lead to a short term success but so many times it is a fleeting experience. The second definition is what the world holds up as successful. But the definition in itself would leave out many humble and truly successful people such as Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, and my dad, who I consider to have lived an incredibly successful life.

So if success is not wealth, power, or fame... what is it? Author John Maxwell describes success as a journey. I like putting success in this category as it allows me to be successful... today. I don't have to attain anything to be a success. As long as I am on the journey, I can be successful. But a journey is not all there is... a lot of people journey around the world only to find misery and defeat.

There is something else... I read Steven Covey's new book called the 8th habit. In it he describes four traits that all successful people have had in common.

They are...

Passion: Do what you love to do

Vision: What great thing would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Discipline: The follow through to get things done.

Conscience: Do what is right

These four things have served as the backbone of my definition of success and they have brought me pretty close to a written explanation. I can tell you what the pieces are but something was still missing. I still couldn't put into words a concrete definition.

My journey to learning the true secret of success continued. I read numerous books and devoured literature right and left. There was so much to learn and the picture started to come into focus. Books from Steven Covey, John Maxwell, and Jack Canfield all had numerous ideas and concepts and the fog of the unknown started to clear.

I picked up a new audio book this week that really helped the whole picture of success to come together in a sharper focus. Entitled "Success Built To Last," authors Jerry Porras, Stewart Emory, and Mark Thompson, provide extensive research into all aspects of the subject. They interviewed over 300 successful people, tagged "builders," to uncover the secrets of their winning life strategies.

As I listened to many of the interviews and the overall context of the book, I realized all the participants had a life of meaning and service. When I laid out all the puzzle pieces on the table a picture formed of what it really takes to be successful.

1. Do what you are passionate about. Take an inventory of your passions and design your job and your life around them. If you don't love what you do, find something else... experiment. Don't live someone else's passions... find your own unique ones.

2. Develop a life of meaning and service. Find a need and fill it. Help others with your unique talents.

3. Create a vision where no one has gone before. Think in big, hairy, audacious goals.

4. Live a life of integrity, do what is right.

5. Take action today and add another step on the journey to success.

While this still lacks a sentence structure, I feel these lines exemplify the lives of so many truly successful people. The definition is clearer now and I think our dictionaries should be changed. The old definitions just don't work.

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John Richardson has a personal blog entitled Success Begins Today where he discusses topics on success and personal development.

Comments

[Greg Balanko-Dickson]

John:

I want to first compliment you on writing an easy to read and insightful story. You did an excellent job of framing a subject that many have written about.

I started listening to "Success Built to Last" and am about halfway through - so I was very interested in your observations.

I am just right this moment in the middle of creating a tool "Career Vision" for one of my clients. I have been feeling that something was missing and it was the difference between focusing on vision versus 'personal success'.

This is a very timely and meaningful work and I feel like I know you because your writing has a familiar, friendly tone. I look forward to getting to know you more...

Mahalo nui loa

[Rosa Say]

John, I sense that your article for us today is very timely. We all hope for wild success with JJLN, and in my reading of everyone’s articles up to this point, I would venture to say we all realize that success must be twofold; collaborative as a learning community seeking to live the value of inclusiveness, and personal as lifelong learners seeking inspiration and growth. Today, as Greg says, your story serves to inspire.

What appeals to me about your definition of success is how richly it is woven with the values of learning; your open minded curiosity blends with introspective questioning, and while you look for mentorship in the pages (and soundwaves!) of books, in respectful appreciation of what is shared and taught, you come to your own conclusions and decisions —you make it real for you. You own it.

John, you set a wonderful example for all who are learners with this posting, thank you.

[John Richardson]

Greg & Rosa, thank you for the kind words. Success is one of those words that should have an easy definition, but it continues to challenge me. As I have studied the subject, I am continually looking at the vision for my own life and what meaning truly is.

The older I get the more I realize that true success is giving back and making a difference in the lives of others.

I see people on a daily basis battling with the forces of negativity. Most have jobs they hate and their negative influence soon rubs off on others. Down and down the spiral goes and soon whole groups of people are suffering.

My vision is to provide a positive influence and a way out. That is what is so exciting about this whole JJL project. The open dialogue and the sharing of ideas is amazingly powerful.

Truly, each one of us can make a difference in our own lives and the lives of others.

John

[Dave]

Man John, I've craved enlightenment on this subject like a desert wanderer in search of water...and a half teaspoon would do. I've terrorized the books you've mentioned and have looked through the magical lens of the Internet in hopes of discovery.

In terms of family I am blessed beyond comprehension. It's the career thing that continues to suck the oxygen from my soul. The chasm between "doing what one loves" and personal / family obligations and desired lifestyle is unfathomable. (I'm not even at the point of knowing what I would love to do) "Experimenting" when one has such obligations is too dangerous for me.

Maxwell's stated definition of success seems to really fit in with yours.

*knowing your purpose in life
*growing to reach your maximum potential
*sowing seeds that benefit others

Great clarification on the topic of success John!!

[Chris Owen]

WELL DONE John.
There's a story we tell on a weekend retreat we do.
There's a minister visiting "deepest darkest Africa" and one of the native men brings him a simple gift.
The minister is touched by the simple beauty of his gift and thanks the man. They sit down in the dirt together and the man begins to tell the story of his 3 day journey over difficult terrain to be there to meet the minister and give him this gift. As the story ends the minister is even more touched by what the man has done to reach him with the gift. When he thanks the man, the man replies "journey part of gift".
For me the journey is always part of the gift!

[Phil Gerbyshak]

Nicely done John. The journey you describe is one I am on as well. Glad to have a tour guide like you to help me through the jungle. Your insightful articles here and at Success Begins Today are an inspiration to us all.

[John Richardson]

"Journey Part of Gift" describes JJL to a tee!
And what a journey it has been so far... I can't wait to see what is over the horizon!

[Karen Wallace]

John, I really like your writing.

I kept thinking as I read your post that the definition of Success is almost as elusive as the definition of Happiness.

I'm getting this feeling from your words, although I cannot put it into coherent sentences yet, that success has a lot to do with how we feel about what we do and what we accomplish. It's more the feeling than the action/arrival.

Especially if we dont use any one else's yardstick to "measure" it.

And isnt it the same with happiness??

PS(Chris, I love this little story - goosebump time!)

[Dan Ward]

I've done a fair amount of thinking & writing about success, and my conclusion is that success isn't something we should pursue. It's something we achieve while in the pursuit of something else. Sort of like happiness, as Karen pointed out.

In my opinion, the major problem with so many entries in the "success-lit" genre is that they focus on success (often defined as money, or, more accurately, control). This focus on success/money/control is ultimately a focus on the self. Real success only comes through focusing outside yourself, not on being selfish. It comes from relinquishing control, not demanding it.

So, even though I wrote a book titled "The Radical Elements of Radical Success," I'm not all that interested in capital-S-Success as a topic. I'm more interested in doing stuff that matters and creating things that are of value to the community. I'm interested in helping people and journeying with them. And if that translates to "success" in some manner, wonderful. If it doesn't, at least it's been a nice trip.

[John Richardson]

Dan,
Thank you for your insights on success. I agree with you that... "It's something we achieve while in the pursuit of something else".

My dad was one of the most successful people that I have ever met. He never had a lot of money. He never held a powerful position or found himself famous.

But he did have one thing that made him a huge success. He always had a smile and a kind word to say to everyone he met. He brightened the lives of hundreds of people by that simple little formula.

I don't think my dad was pursuing success when he did those things. He just did them. And he changed the world, ever so slightly, one person at a time.

John