Redefining Success

Success is a word that has captivated the attention of all. It has gained more popularity and attracted more publicity than the greatest king whoever lived in human history. Everywhere you go; people talk about it with much relish. The word tastes sweet, sounds great and smells good. It is treasured more than gold, adorned more than a god, and ‘succeeds’ more than anything the mind of man could ever imagine. Even the devil himself wants to succeed.

Success is a subject that many great men have talked and wrote about, and many more are still on it. No other word could best describe how the society feel about it, except to say that success is everything, and everything thing that succeeds is success.

No wonder everybody has gone out there in search of this priceless treasure, which may have appeared elusive to many. Some have even gone beyond the ordinary means in search of success, yet to no avail. They at the end would curse their fate, and look for whom to blame for their failures.

Is that enough to say that the word success does not exist? Or is it a thing meant for the super-humans? If not, why are we not succeeding in our individual lives? We salivate at the thought of this magic word, maybe wait to take our eternal exit without a touch of it.

Indeed success is rare but attainable. It is an irony that under the same condition, some folks literally wine and dine with success. By every indication, they are success personified. What then must have gone wrong with the rest? Or could the success we know be different from theirs, or could be redefined. What is your own definition of success? What exactly is success? It is necessary that you know , to enable you go for it.

Thousand and one definitions have been made on this all important subject, by different calibre of people. But, how many of such definitions have defined what success truly is. Suffice it to say, how many of such definitions have stood the taste of time. That is just the point. A word wrongly defined would be misconstrued. And that is like leading the whole world astray.

Dozens have tried to define success as something that happens to us. But, when we separate success from who we are, we automatically become bunch of failures. Success begins with you as a person and it’s lived out. It is more of your nature than your activity. It is an intense journey into yourself. Every other thing outside this is secondary.

Of all the definitions of success I have come across, the one that makes more meaning to me than the rest combined is this: success is who you are. And who you are is what you are. In the words of Jim Rohn, "Success is not a set of standards from our culture but rather a collection of personal values clearly defined and ultimately achieved". And Herbert Casson added, ‘The men who succeed are the efficient few. They are the few who have the ambition and will power to develop themselves’. So, true success is who you are.

Success begins inside out. Success we have known is a journey and not a destination. And the journey is an internal trip. To grow out, you must first grow in. Trying to be outside, what you are not in your inside is the genesis of all frustration. Life will always give you who you are because your nature will put limit to your performance and results. The world is designed to be piloted by man’s internal forces. Those who surrender their lives to external forces never succeeded.

There are no failures in this life, except men and women who see success as something happening to them and not something happening in them. They often mistake success for luck and end up locked. You are the success or the failure people talk about. Separate every successful work from the people who achieved them, what you have left is more or less failure. Just think of any great individual or body or organization or country that is very successful. What do you think have made them so?

At the centre of every success is the man. So, success is the man who succeeded. Success is internal and not external. Success is within and not without. Success is what you have, and not what you are given. Success is in the inner world and not in the outer world. Success is all about you as a person. And more of your being than your doing. Everything that happens to us is directly proportional to what is happening in us. Of course, life is not what is happening to us but what is happening in us. For you become outside, what you are inside. Jim Clemmer said it all, "We don’t see the world as it is, we see the world as we are". Come to think of it, you reflect outside what you are inside.

A man said, "The key to winning in life is what’s inside a person". And Wilfred A. Peterson also buttressed, "success is not confined to one part of your personality but is related to the development of all parts: body, mind, heart and spirit. It is making the most of your total self".

What more could be added to this? If your inner man is successful, it will be definitely show in your outer world. So wake up to reality and live your success. Why running to and fro in search of that you already possess. In you is the success that you need to succeed .Locate it, turn it on and you will become enviably successful. How? By working on yourself, with clearly defined goals and values. Then you will attract to your life that which you are Listen to this thought shared by Zig Ziglar, "You already have the ability necessary for success. Man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowment, with the seed of greatness". Isn’t that wonderful! You have to break in now to break forth.

I end with this word from a sage written on marble, "Not in the clamour of the crowded street. Not in the shouts and defeat, but in ourselves are triumph and defeat". I know you would not like to be defeated. Just tell yourself that you are the success that has long been announced. What are you waiting for to start succeeding? Develop yourself now and watch the amazing result in your life. You are lifted!

Tony Ajah
0805 140 3056