What is the meaning of Success?

What is the meaning of Success?

Confucius said: “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”

What is the meaning of Success? The better question should be “What does Success mean to you?” since Success itself can have many meanings, all of which subjective in nature. The Oxford Dictionary describes Success as “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose”.

Since last week I have been working with a group of Masterclass students whose aim it is to write individual 5-year plans within a week. I have started to see how different people measure their own successes in life. This ranges from starting and running a successful business, to having a position which makes them feel comfortable and safe, to having a family and realizing some long-held dreams.

Most of all though it seems apparent to me that having a successful career is not the only, nor the most important, measure of success. When I started doing these masterclasses with people, I knew immediately that marketing it as something to define only your career would be incorrect. For me balance is everything and as we start planning our futures it is absolutely essential that we plan our lives and loves at the same time.

The students’ ultimate five-year goals will be established this week and so they are each thinking about what success means to them. Here are some of their favourite descriptions of ‘Success’ from last night’s class:

·       Success is having a roof over one’s head and a place to call home;

·       Success is learning something new each day;

·       Success is being grateful for everything you already have;

·       Success is knowing that you are in control of your own destiny.

I spoke a little about how success for me currently centres around my business, C&E HR Consultancy. So, business success might centre around profits, clients and service lines. If you are working as part of a Sales Team you will more than likely have a set of Sales Targets that you have to meet in order to earn your commission. Meeting or even beating your targets will be a sign of success.

If you are working as part of a large organization you should be undertaking a yearly Performance Appraisal during which your manager will talk you through your successes for the year and if you’re lucky you might even earn a bonus as a result of a ‘successful’ performance review.

Having a Balanced Scorecard or a Bell Curve or any of your other traditional tools for measuring success won’t necessarily work for the man on the street though. So, what does success mean for you?

Here are some of my favourite definitions from the Life Hacks Blog:

·       Success is setting concrete goals;

·       Success is believing you can;

·       Success is remembering to balance work with passion;

·       Success is learning that you sometimes need to say no;

·       Success is overcoming fear;

·       Success is learning that losing a few battles can help you to win the war…

What are your definitions of success?

As my Masterclass go on to write their Five-Year Plans, I’ll leave you with two techniques for setting goals to help you achieve your successes in life:

1.       SMART Technique

2.       Locke’s Goal Setting Theory

If you be interested in discussing what Success means to you and/or joining the next Masterclass please do get in touch here.