What Does Success Look Like For You?

We often go through our lives hoping that we’ll be ‘successful’ don’t we?

BUT – do we each know what ‘successful’ looks like for us. Success for me will probably look and feel very different, than success through someone else’s eyes.

In a previous post 4 Ways to Develop your Personal Values List and help you to Lead A Life Worth Living!, I talked about the importance of identifying your core values, because if we don’t have these clear in our minds, we often deviate and end up living a life which is ‘out of alignment’… However, for the purpose of this post, I’m assuming that you’ve now identified your core values (and if not.. check out the previous post and take action….) and now it’s time to clarify what ‘success’ means to you.

Maybe success means being a great mum or dad or grandparent and being able to spend quality time creating happy memories with your family or maybe it means living in a large house with a Ferrari parked outside. For some it may mean being self employed and building a business and to others it may be working for a particular company or gaining a promotion.

Developing a clear view of what ‘success’ means for you in the different areas of your life, helps you understand if the goals your setting are moving you toward or away from your definition of success.

If you can define what success looks like, you put yourself in a better position to actually achieve success and to know when you are deviating ‘off course’.

If you don’t have a clear definition of what a ‘successful life’ would look and feel like, how will you ever know that you’ve ‘achieved success’ or will it simply remain that aloof sense of wanting something more, but not being sure what it is your aiming for?

If you completed ‘The Wheel Of Life’ previously … The Wheel of Life… , go back to it now and look at the different areas of your life and write a few sentences defining what ‘success’ would look and feel like in each of these life zones… Be really descriptive and use words that connect you emotionally to your picture of success and remember to describe how you will measure your success too.

For example, I have a personal goal/Vision to become healthier and I’d describe my vision of ‘success’ as follows:

I feel amazing when I look down at the bathroom scales and see that I’ve achieved my goal of weighing 10.5 stone. I laugh when the Diabetes nurse tells me I’ve reversed my diabetes and also reduced the need for high blood pressure tablets by 50%. I have the energy to walk and cycle at least 3 times per week and I get a real buzz when I feel a fabulous boost of energy which enables me to have fun playing with my 2 granddaughters.

I consistently follow a low carbohydrate diet and enjoy cooking healthy meals with fresh fruit and vegetables which has enabled me to achieve the necessary weight loss and now I love wearing size 14 clothes and feel great in my swimming costume by the pool when we’re on holiday.

I love feeling confident in my own body and the added benefits this has bought to my relationship. I enjoy the extra energy and enthusiasm I have for trying new things including learning to roller skate, which I love and means I can skate alongside my granddaughters too. I feel like a positive example of making lifestyle changes that I’ve sustained and enjoy motivating others along their journey too.

If you are emotionally connected to your picture of success, you’re much more likely to take and stick to the action needed to get you there….

I started my ‘healthy lifestyle journey’ 12 months ago and so far, I’ve lost 1.5 stone in weight and put my diabetes into a pre-diabetic level. However, over the last few weeks, I’ve felt myself slipping ‘off track’ and having my ‘success vision’ written down, has helped me recognise this at an early stage, before I undo all the ‘good work’ I’ve achieved so far. I’ve now been able to set some new weekly targets, to get me back on track with my journey to success..

I’m about half way there so still some work to do, before I can really celebrate and feel that sense of achievement and SUCCESS! I can set some milestones along the way and still have some ‘mini’ celebrations along my route as that will also help boost my motivation and keep me going to my final ‘success destination’….

Once you’ve written your Success Vision for each key area of your life, I would suggest sitting down and reading this at least every couple of months. It only takes a few minutes to skim through it and quickly identify the areas of your life that need a bit more effort if you are ever going to feel that sense of ‘success’…

If we are clear on what SUCCESS means to us as an individual, we are more likely to feel a sense of ‘self worth’ because we aren’t waiting for other people to decide or judge whether we’re successful, we’ll know and feel it ourselves. We’ll understand what goals we need to set to achieve ‘success’ and by regularly reviewing how far we’ve travelled in our journey toward success, we’ll be able to keep ourselves ‘on track’ more effectively.

Be your own judge of what Success means, enjoy the journey toward it and of course always CELEBRATE SUCCESS when you achieve it….

Then set some new Success Visions to keep moving onward and upward!