How do you define success?
From playing a leading role in helping others to achieving personal goals, here are 14 answers to the question, “How do you define success?”
- I Define Success Through My Own Eyes
- Success is Knowing You Have Contended in Life
- Holistic Success
- Fixing Whatever Gets You Mad
- Being Able to Provide for Others
- Success is About Doing Well Where I Spend the Most Time
- It’s Not Just About the Money
- Success is Living with Perspective, Values, & No Regrets
- Success is Progress Not Perfection
- Small Victories, Consistent Progression in Work & Life
- Playing a Leading Role in Helping Others
- Transform into Your Dream Self
- Success is Not An Endpoint; It’s a Journey
- Success is the Accomplishment of Personal Goals
I Define Success Through My Own Eyes
I define success by looking at the goals I’ve set for myself and how far I’ve progressed. I have a good pulse of my own trajectory and have been able to understand my personal development through my own eyes. With this in mind, I’m able to look at how far I’ve come and decide if I’ve been successful, or if I’ve fallen short.
Have I been successful in my own eyes and in regard to the goals I’ve set for myself?
The key element of this internal process allows me to make changes and adjust my next steps. So regardless of how I have evolved in the past, I am always using the information to make my future as successful as possible. That, in itself, is success as well because I’m utilizing the information I have to set myself up for success.
Kurtis Forster
Sales Representative, Nu-Vista Premiere Realty
Success is Knowing You Have Contended in Life
Success is being able to do what you want to do, to accomplish what you set out to accomplish. It’s being proud of what you do and happy with who you are. It’s respecting yourself and knowing that you’re good enough. It’s believing that your life has enough meaning and value and feeling that you have found your place in the world. It’s thinking you are making a difference for yourself and others. It’s enjoying life and being grateful for it.
Saneem Ahearn
VP of Marketing, Colorescience
Holistic Success
You can achieve your goals, achieve wealth and fame, and yet not really be successful. A holistic view is needed to define it. Success is the achievement of your goals and/or lifelong dreams without compromising your morals and integrity while remaining humble.
Mistakes are the catalysts for growth, and successes inspire others. External validation is not needed because you know in your heart what you have achieved, and how that has led you to be a better individual, family member, and community member.
Patty Hickok
Sr. Director Employee Relations, HRIS and HR Operations, NANA Regional Corporation
Fixing Whatever Gets You Mad
Whatever gets you mad, as an entrepreneur, is probably your path to success. It’s the spur, lesson, benchmark, goal, or priority you need right now. Your enemy is your greatest teacher. Got a powerful competitor? Steal their customers.
Nobody knows you exist? Start tweeting, blogging, PR-ing, whatever to get your story heard.
Not enough cash? Start shilling VCs, maxing out your credit cards, or cutting your burn rate.
Not enough features? Play up the simplicity of your product.
Figure out what hurts the most and do something about it. Repeat for ten years and bingo, ‘success’.
Matthew Stibbe
CEO, Articulate Marketing
Being Able to Provide for Others
I view success as my ability to provide for others. It’s easy to get a job, pay your bills, and take care of your own needs, but the real challenge is building a tribe.
Being able to provide for others is my definition of success because the feeling you get once you’ve provided security to those you care about is unrivaled. This feeling is more genuine than any salary increase or promotion that I’ve ever received.
Bryan Jones
CEO, Truckbase
Success is About Doing Well Where I Spend the Most Time
I have always defined success by the results I receive in the areas where I spend my most time. Real success is how I do when it relates to the things I care most about and spend the most time on. If I put in a few minutes of time into a project, and it doesn’t go well, it isn’t the end of the world and the lack of success may have come from my lack of effort.
However, if I put 110% into something and am completely passionate about it, then I need to see results. It is those areas where I need to find success and expect to do well at. They usually have implications for my bigger trajectory and will mean more to me in the long run. It’s in these areas that I work toward success, expect success, and need success. And success is simply the end goal I aim toward and want to receive in return for the work I put in. Plain and simple.
David Curtis
Founder and CEO, Blue Pig Media
Success: It’s Not Just About the Money
Success is a goal that needs to be constantly pursued. It means making intentional moves toward the life you want, no matter how small or large your goals may be. Success is often equated with wealth, but it really goes beyond money or possessions; success also means feeling content in other areas of your life, such as relationships, education, health, and career.
Achieving success requires an internal drive to succeed even amidst difficulties; it’s not just about luck or chance. Those who strive for success realize this and work diligently to reach their goals each day, taking the steps necessary to rewrite their stories of success.
Nick Lines
Director, Internal Doors
Success is Living W/Perspective, Values, & No Regrets
Success is conducting yourself with absolutely no regrets–living with discipline, a free spirit, and respect for others. Success is never hesitating to try new things and overcome obstacles, no matter how challenging the task. Success is having a solid foundation of life perspectives that mold your character, equipped with willpower that is unbreakable. Ultimately, success is looking back on your life with a smile on your face knowing that you lived according to your values and ambitions with no regrets.
Dakota McDaniels
Chief Product Officer, Pluto
Success is Progress Not Perfection.
Instead of striving for perfection, which is often unattainable, it is important to focus on making progress toward your goals. This means setting attainable objectives and consistently working toward them, even if you encounter setbacks along the way. It is better to celebrate small wins and progress along the way, rather than getting discouraged by the pursuit of an unrealistic ideal. By focusing on progress, you can build momentum and confidence, and eventually achieve the success that you desire.
Andy Ide
Founder and Director, HorseRecords
Small Victories, Consistent Progression in Work & Life
For me, success isn’t just about achieving goals or reaching milestones, but also having the self-awareness and emotional intelligence to be able to learn from mistakes and failures. I call it baby steps. Success is when you can look back on your life with pride and satisfaction because you’ve taken risks, learned lessons, made memories – all while becoming the best version of yourself.
It means not being afraid of failure or letting fear hold you back from taking chances in life; instead, embracing challenges with an open mind and a positive attitude. It’s also important to remember that success looks different for everyone – there isn’t one right answer or definition that works for everyone. Success might mean financial stability for one person, creative fulfillment for another, or simply feeling contentment each day regardless of what happens around them. And it’s entirely subjective.
Sarah Gibson
Director, Proactive Healthcare
Playing a Leading Role in Helping Others Become Greener
As someone who works at a business that encourages carbon accounting and tracking, my own particular definition of success is really closely tied to my profession. For me, being a success in business terms would mean I am encouraging others to adopt green energy practices, whether through education, outreach, or other forms of advocacy. Outside of work, though, for me success is having a happy and healthy family, and feeling that you are valued as a person – and that’s probably not a bad way to look at being successful!
Peter Jones
Sustainability Consultant, Carbon Accounting
Transform into Your Dream Self
Success is when you’re well-balanced in all areas of your life (at least to me). It’s not just about being financially successful or being the most outstanding moral citizen out there – both are virtually impossible for the general public to achieve. Success is when you wake up and consistently push yourself towards your goals.
And you look in the mirror one day two years from now to find you cannot recognize the person you’ve become – but in a good way! You see that you’ve managed to push yourself past the barriers and the fears that held you back. And you become the woman or man that you’ve always wanted to be! Don’t ever let someone else define your happiness or success (paraphrasing a quote from Will Smith’s famous “Pursuit of Happiness”).
John B. Martyn
Lead Content Strategist, BrightestMinds
Success is Not An Endpoint; It’s a Journey.
Success is not an endpoint; it’s a journey. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it certainly isn’t easy. To me, success means having the courage to take risks, work hard, and dedicate yourself to what you want in life, no matter how difficult the path may be. It’s about never giving up when times get tough and continuing to push forward no matter who stands in your way.
Success means living by your own rules and striving for something bigger than yourself – something that will leave a lasting impression on those around you. Ultimately, success is found within ourselves and our desire to keep pushing towards our goals until we achieve them.
Jose Gomez
CTO and Founder, Evinex
Success is the Accomplishment of Personal Goals That…
Success is the accomplishment of personal goals that yield a net-positive outcome. Highly industrious individuals consider success and achievement to be synonymous, but they are not. People may achieve personal goals, but at the expense of their happiness, quality of life, or overall wellbeing. Individuals suffering from workaholism often claim a laundry list of achievements, but these almost always come at the expense of what really matters in life.
This cannot be called “success” in any substantial sense, being more akin to a pyrrhic victory. To truly succeed, one’s life must be improved holistically. For example, many educational achievements can be considered “successful” if they lead to life-long friendships, personal growth, and cherished memories. However, career advancement at the expense of one’s wellbeing is the antithesis of success. Therefore, people must consider the big picture, recognizing that the end goal is not mere task completion, but personal fulfillment.
Ben Schwencke
Business Psychologist, Test Partnership
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