I want to be successful.
I get to define what success means. It doesn't have to be what anyone else wants, it can only be what I want.
Define for yourself what success is. Is it a new car? Is it that perfect dream house? Is it a wonderful family life? Is it financial security? Is it a thriving business? Is it a chance to travel the world at a moment's notice? Is it the opportunity to live where you want to? Is it being able to say you finished something? Is it an account of your accomplishments? What is success? What is success to you?
Where do you see yourself in five years? Where do you want to live in five years? What do you want to be doing for a living in five years? What do you want for your family in five years? What kind of relationships do you want to have in five years? What do you want to have under your belt in five years? What languages do you speak in five years? How much have you learned in five years? What have you learned in five years? What is the meaning of your life in five years? How much older are you going to be in five years? How much younger will you feel in five years? What do you think you will be doing in five years?
Is five years too long?
Do you not have the ability to see that far in the future? You don't have to be a fortune teller. You only have to define for yourself what you want in those five years. Make it up. Start somewhere. There can be no wrong answers. This is a game. A game of chance and make believe. But there is truth behind it. By doing the exercise, you learn more about yourself. You learn what it is that you truly want, what you truly desire when you look outside of your day to day existence.
What if we shortened the long view? What if we only looked at the next year?
What do you want to be different in your life one year from today? What if you had the ability to change everything about your life? What if you didn't want to change anything about your life? What if? What does your next year look like? Take your age and add a year, what is the new age you come to? Is it a good year? Will you take advantage of the opportunity that life gives all of us every precious moment and become what you want to be?
I don't know if I will, but I will try. And trying is where I can start. Trying gets the ball rolling, breaks the inertia, builds momentum. But success is the goal.
I take it for granted that I want to succeed. But it is important to say to myself that I want to be successful, that I want to be a success. And again, I get to define what that success means. It is different for everyone.
But we have to take the time to define what success means for us. We have to take the time to decide what we want and what we don't want. Actually, forget about what you don't want. Life teaches us what we don't want, we don't have to decide for ourselves. Focus on what we do want. Focus on what you want from life. Then get out there and try for it. But instead of just trying and hoping for the best, say to yourself, "I want to be successful."
I want to be successful.
I want to win. I don't think life is a competition, but I still want to be a winner. A winner in my own right, by my own definitions, by my own definition of success.
What does success look like for you?
Maybe a year is still too long of a view to have. Let's chop it down then, drop it to six months, one month, a week, a day, today, this hour, this minute, this second.
DEFINE SUCCESS FOR YOURSELF THIS MOMENT, AND ONLY FOR THIS MOMENT.
Then get out there and try for that success. Moment to moment. Live in the present and focus on what success can be for you at that one moment.
This one moment is all we have. The present is the only time we have to live in, everything else, past and future are just a dream.
Define for yourself what success is, and be a success in this present moment.
