It’s one thing to want to be successful when you grow up or have your mom tell you how successful she thinks you are. But if I ask you, “are you successful", what is your answer? Yes, or no.... Not “yes, but...” or “not yet...”. The dictionary.com definition of success is “the favourable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavours; the accomplishment of one's goals.”
How subjective.
I’ve always seen success in a deep, intimate relationship with money. They’re like that annoying couple that finish each other’s sentences and have pet names for one another. They’re never apart, always married together.
However, according to the actual definition, success has nothing to do with money at all. It doesn’t say you’re not successful until you’re debt free, with no mortgage, own jet plane, and have $2.8 million in the bank. It’s actually very subjective: are you reaching your goals or not? It even uses the word “attempts”. Are you attempting to reach your goals? Are you even attempting to have goals?
So, let’s break down if you’re successful at being an entrepreneur:
1. Do you attempt to have goals?
I can tell you right now if you’re here reading this, you’re curious about success and that means you’re an achiever. If you even dream of one day being different than you are now or changing where you’re at, then you’re on your way to having goals.
If you take your dreams one step further and write them down with actionable steps (even baby ones) then you’re attempting at goals. I have a dream of writing a book one day, blogs are just one step in making that a reality for me. Write down your dreams, all of them, big and small, and then choose ONE you can tangibly focus on right this moment. Choose one small action you can take to move towards that dream. Now it’s a goal my friend.
2. Do you reach your goals?
If you’re answer is yes, hooray! Keep going, make new goals and see what else you can accomplish.
If your answer is no, that doesn’t mean you’re not successful. It could mean that you need to break your goals up into smaller bite sized pieces. Or perhaps you need to focus on one goal at time. Rome wasn’t built in a day people! Mountains are moved one rock at a time! Ok, I’ll stop. The point is, anything is possible, it just depends on how you look at it.
3. Do you see yourself as successful?
The answer is simple. Yes or no. Until you see yourself as successful, you won’t be. Realizing that I had the whole definition of success upside down I recently wrote my own version, since the actual definition is so vague. I encourage you to do the same.
What does success mean to you? Is it money; is it fame; or is it simply making it to the end of the day without losing your cool? No one else’s opinion matters here. Just yours. So, if you don’t think you’re successful, then make up some dreams, give them actions, and go achieve them.
My definition of success is a feeling not a material reward:
Success is feeling confident that I am on the right track to reach my short and long term goals. It is having the confidence to know I am making the best decisions with the tools I have in that moment. I know I am achieving success because I am celebrating my achievements along the way and recognizing that small wins are leading me to the big goals.