What is Success, Really?

 

 

Do you have big dreams, or the desire within you to improve yourself and manifest greater success?

Success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose, and, more broadly: the attainment of prosperity.

However, each of us defines prosperity differently. The words success and prosperity are charged, and can activate different associations, reactions, and judgements in the minds of those who hear them.

Because our values can evolve as we acquire life experience, it’s important that each of us consider periodically: what prosperity and success mean to us as individuals.

Personal growth is the process of looking closely at how you handle life from the inside, and making the most of your potential before you die.

Whether you have ambitious, clearly defined goals, or simply the sense that you could make even more of a positive difference in the world, looking at your life — and yourself — consciously and objectively will help you to realize your dreams, and find success more quickly.

4 Insights to Help You Increase Your Success

“…one’s only rival is one’s own potentialities;
one’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities”
                    ~ Abraham Maslow

What does prosperity mean to you?

Life has taught me that true prosperity is excellent health. Because when you enjoy excellent health, all of your other values become more expressible.

For example, if you value relationships, then having robust health will provide you with the physical energy and time to be fully present for your friends and loved-ones.

One needs to actually be alive in order to be in close and consistent relationships with other human beings, and it also helps to have sustained energy. People who are always slightly tired and harried have a harder time being fully present for those they love. Excellent health can be the antidote.

I remember back in my younger days, feeling haunted by my unrealized potential. I knew I had so much to offer the world, and I wanted to make “more of my self,”  but sometimes I felt as though I was just spinning-my-wheels! Have you ever had the lingering sense that you could realize even more of your potential?

I’m happy to report that I’ve learned a few things over the last 47 years. I’ll share some of the best with you now. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find them interesting, or even helpful. Here are 4 valuable insights to help you dramatically increase your personal success, physical health, and happiness:

Success Insight #1:
Find a Healthy Way to Metabolize Anxiety

“Metabolize” is an internal process in which you take something potentially harmful and turn it into something useful. For example, taking a fearful thought and turning it into a realization that you are stronger than you previously thought, or taking a nervous thought and turning it into excitement.

It’s hard to really get much momentum going on your personal growth if you don’t have a good strategy for dealing with anxiety. Because when it comes time to recognize something about yourself — something that you sense will be momentarily painful to see — you might let yourself get distracted, in order to avoid the pain.

Anxiety is part of life on earth. If you don’t deliberately find healthier ways to deal with daily emotional discomfort, you might be tempted to “medicate” your anxiety with something less healthy, like:  sugar, denial, cigarettes, prescriptive opiates …whatever. 

There is no “one” right way to deal with anxiety. Everybody’s a bit different. Explore your options. For me, I find slow, thorough breathing to be grounding. Also, when I exercise daily, it seems to help my brain chemistry. It keeps me brighter and more optimistic.

Additionally, the ability to witness my own thoughts calmly as I think them, and to observe patterns in my thinking, has been enormously helpful. When I objectively see myself thinking negatively, I can stop, and course-correct before I stress myself out too much.

Anyway, those are a few examples of self-soothing strategies that work pretty well for me. What works well for you?

 

Success Insight #2:
Believe in Something Stronger, Smarter, and More Loving than You

In order to dramatically increase your personal success, physical health and happiness, you’re going to need to be able to surrender your frustrations to something Higher than you. Otherwise, all the world’s problems might drive you nutty.

A spiritual or religious tradition can work.  It really helps to imagine that there is an Infinite Field of intelligence, compassion and creativity of which you and everyone is a part — but, if that’s too squishy for you, maybe you can simply remember that, even though you don’t have all the answers, you still have faith that the planet will be spinning tomorrow just like it did today.

Success Insight #3: Cultivate Gratitude

I know, you’ve heard this one before. But here’s something that you may not have tried:  instead of just having the intellectual thought of gratitude (in other words, identifying something for which you can or should feel grateful), try turning that thought into an actual, physical, visceral, feeling.

Here’s what works for me:

• ⊙ decide on something for which you can be grateful, then hold that image peacefully in your mind for a moment.
• ⊙ next, imagine your heart becoming very light, your chest actually lifting a bit.
• ⊙ beam joy and appreciation from your heart until you imagine your whole body glowing.
• ⊙ let that feel good.

There you have it.

Thinking grateful is good. Feeling grateful is even better.  What’s more, the cells of your body will thank you for it, in the form of improved health.

Success Insight #4:
Own Responsibility for What Happens (Every Time)

This is the one that can be especially challenging:  owning specific responsibility for our lives and what occurs.

In order to make this work, you need to pretend that “you get what you vibrate.”  Well, it’s even better if you can believe it. But for those of you who don’t believe that you create the circumstances of your life by the thoughts that you have, just pretend that it’s true for now, and act accordingly.

When something unfortunate happens, ask yourself calmly and lovingly, “How exactly did I create this, and what can I do to create something better?”

You’re not going to disappear, die or go crazy if you take responsibility”

Resist the temptation to make a case for why this isn’t true. You don’t need to play the role of a lawyer and cite examples of starving children.  You don’t need to focus on other people’s tragedies at all for this exercise. Focus on your own stuff. Your own life. And own it.

What helps this strategy to work especially well, is when you pay attention to the energy behind the owning.  Owning circumstances with a sense of guilt or shame is different than owning with two feet planted firmly and a chin held level. So when you ask yourself, “how did I create this?” ask it not from a victim-place, but from the part of you where common sense resides.

By the way, if you mess up with someone, then name it. Say what you did, express regret, say it won’t happen again (and mean it), and — for serious transgressions — make it up to the person.  Don’t worry that it conflicts with the vision you have of yourself. You’re not going to disappear or die or go crazy if you take responsibility (as long as you’ve also been working on Strategy #1, see above).

Our Longevity e-Newsletter is designed to provide you with the inspiration and accountability you need to make improvements in your use of time. Every two weeks, subscribers receive a new strategy. And, it’s free. Subscribe below this article.

Bonus Success Strategy: How to Be a Work-a-Frolic Instead of a Workaholic!

And, perhaps most importantly, when something goes right in your life, celebrate that success in your mind! By celebrating your successes and cultivating and focusing your passionate energies on the tasks, projects, and people you love most, your success will increase exponentially. Richard St. John explains this beautifully, in this 3-minute Ted video:

 
I’ve just shared with you 4 insights for creating increased success and dramatically improving a human life:

• ◕ which are you already using masterfully?
• ◕ which are you eager to strengthen?

I invite you to share your own insights in the comments section below!