The Most Important Components of Success

What does success mean for you? When do you claim that you are successful?  

I am aware that most people define success as accomplishing a goal or attaining a certain level of wealth and fame. Then, why do most still feel depressed after achieving the things they thought they wanted in their lives? It is because success can mean different things to people based on their roles in life. For a mother, success could mean being able to keep her child happy and safe. For an environmentalist, success could mean people are doing a collective action to protect the planet. For a teacher, success could mean accomplished students. For me, success is not measured by the number of achievements, money, nor fame. I say success means fulfillment, growth, overcoming fears, learning to embrace rejections. 

On my journey through life, I encountered different kinds of difficulties, some of which disabled me to achieve some of my goals. Despite it all, I consider myself successful not because I achieved the goals I set for myself but because I managed to overcome each of those obstacles, learned from them, and experienced growth in the process. 

More importantly, I can say that when you have the following most important components, you are successful in life.

1. Sense of fulfillment. Without this feeling, can you say you have achieved success? When you don’t feel that happiness or contentment after performing a task or accomplishing a goal, you know success is not at hand. This feeling is achieved when you know you gave your all to do what you have to do.  
2. Knowing your purpose. We cannot be genuinely happy or content through money or fame because these are not our purpose for being. We are to use what we have, both material and intangible resources, to fulfill our purpose. That is why we need to know our goal for us to complete it and achieve real success.
3. Personal growth. This should be one of the results of the challenges you face in your journey. If you did not grow personally after all the difficulties you encountered, you could never say you are successful. The things and goals we achieved, the status we have now, and the lessons we learned from the past are all the results of our personal growth.

Needless to say, success is not measured by all the glories we know. It is much more profound. Do you agree?

(Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pexels)