The True Definition of Success

Too often I think we equate success with money. We tie them together and then we feel less than or unworthy if we’re not earning what we’d like.
 
The same holds true with our careers. We feel like a failure not only if we don’t get that title at work, but also if we don’t have the number of followers or likes we desire on social media, or if our career doesn’t match how others are doing it.
 
But true success has nothing to do with income or the outer trappings. Seeing it myopically can be destructive to your self-worth and self-esteem. You don’t have to achieve some arbitrary goal or view yourself by society’s standards to be a success. That’s the old patriarchal limited view of achievements equating value.
 
What if we broaden the definition?
 
I want you to contemplate Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words in his poem, “Success,” to see if you can shift your perspective:
 
“To laugh often and love much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the approval of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give of one's self;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived . . .
This is to have succeeded.”
 
By this definition, can you begin to see yourself as a success?
 
In addition to the above, you’re a success when you show up consciously and conscientiously. When you take the time to work on yourself, versus continuing negative behaviors. When you strive to be your best self. When you stretch and grow. When you help others or extend kindness. When you lead from love.
 
Feel the expansiveness of the truth of success. Let it shift you to become more and to own how truly successful you are. Because the more you can truly own that you’re a success, the wider and more varied your success will become.