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A Better Measure of Success

Written by: Nan Russell

Article Overview: The headline caught my eye, "The Goal: Wealth and Fame." The article in USA Today examined a recent survey of top life goals for the college-age crowd. It surprised me that there was a 33% jump, today versus thirty-eight years ago, in beliefs of college freshman that being financially well off was "essential" or "very important." But what surprised me more was their desire to be famous.

A Better Measure of Success

The headline caught my eye, "The Goal: Wealth and Fame." The article in USA Today examined a recent survey of top life goals for the college-age crowd. It surprised me that there was a 33% jump, today versus thirty-eight years ago, in beliefs of college freshman that being financially well off was "essential" or "very important." But what surprised me more was their desire to be famous.

Perhaps it's indicative that this celebrity-obsessed culture produced freshmen defining success in terms of money and notoriety, putting the value of "a meaningful philosophy of life" 40% lower than their counterparts four decades ago. While the article posed interesting research on this up-and-coming group, it got me thinking about success.

What is success, anyway? What does it mean to be successful? Is the appearance of success, like wealth or fame, the same as being successful? Who is successful and who isn't? And who determines it?

If both wealth and fame are the parameters by which success is to be judged, then Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa and Gandhi would not be in the success hall of fame. Nor would Susan B. Anthony, Abraham Lincoln or Rosa Parks. Yet these people positively changed the world.

So have scores of inventors, teachers, writers, musicians, scientists, designers, builders, doctors, leaders, parents and engineers. But they weren't rich and famous, and no magazines devoted pages to their day-to-day sightings.

Yet without their achievements, the conveniences we take for granted, the technologies that save our lives, and the endeavors that engage our souls wouldn't exist. Things like: airplanes, x-rays, medicines, bridges, post-it-notes, cell phones, movies, music, books, microwaves, computers, prosthetics, fashions and ATMs, to name but a few.

Every day, people who are winning at working focus on new ideas, break-through technologies and solutions to global problems. They focus on child-rearing, firefighting, and community building. They focus on education, service and healing. They don't have household names and may struggle to pay the mortgage, but they're successful.

You see there's a better definition of success, and people who are winning at working know it. Success is not about the money. It's not about the recognition or the glory or the fame. It's not about an outward measure someone else establishes. And while money, recognition, and fame may come to people who are winning at working, the difference is this: it's not the goal. It's a by-product of their passionate endeavors, hard work, ongoing efforts and achievements.

For people who are winning at working, success is an inner measure of passionately doing what they are able to do, making a difference with their lives and maximizing their gifts and talents. They measure success by leaving the world a bit better for having been here.

(c) 2007 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved.

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Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action). Success - H3 Robert
Re: Success - I study success intently, and would like to share: Here's two excellent and nearly identical success-formulas from a couple of the world's masters. FIRST FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Clear, Definite Purpose 3. Committed Decision 4. Take Action In Faith (Bonus Secret Sauce: 5. Repeat Consistently) I made a video about this, but am not allowed to link it yet. Google "Ryze Success Steps" for it. Oh, and this is Napoleon Hill's (Master Of Success Laws)'s Formula. SECOND FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Understand It Is Already Done (Faith) 3. Relax & Allow It To Unfold (Go about your life calmly) This one is courtesy of Abraham-Hicks (inspiration for the movie The Secret). Hope that helps!
Success Strategies - How to get the results you want now? Success Strategies and Action Steps I have used are: The Power of Choice Where you are at this present moment, is exactly perfect from the choices you have made. If you want to be somewhere else, you have to decide clearly what that is (your goal/outcome) and create action steps to achieve this. The Power of Focus The book "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, is one of my treasures in my Entrepreneur Library. If you focus on what you want versus what you do not want, your conscious and sub-conscious mind will direct attention to this. The movie, What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, explains this in detail about quantum physics and what we create in our lives. The Power of Commitment This is not about commitment to others. The first step is the commitment, your word, you make to yourself. Accountability and responsibility are additional success strategies and ingredients to creating the success, defined by you, that you want. The commitment to others reflects your integrity, your word and the team you work with. Co-workers, clients, yoru family, friends and community. My Success Acronyn in Success Breakthroughs(c) is: S pecific & self-directed U nlimited opportunities & possibilities C reate powerful outcomes C onsistent measureable results E xperience pwoerful transformation S olution and action-oriented S uccessful habits and outcomes Break Through to Powerful LIfestyle & Performance Choices Moira
Re: Books for the Entrepreneur - Here's one of my most recent books The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success By Brian Tracy
Re: What is your age? - Kevin, Success is the best revenge. they are telling the world that been raised by sinlge parent will not determine their success in life


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