In a book club I am a part of, we have discussed on more than one occasion the thought of arriving. Now I don’t just mean arriving to work on time, arriving to your gate on time at the airport, or arriving at home at the end of the day. What I do mean, is arriving at your set goal. Maybe it is a career goal, maybe it’s a financial goal, a relationship goal, or maybe even a health goal. My question though is do we ever truly arrive? Once we pay off debt then we normally set a savings goal. Once we meet Mr. Right or Ms. Right then we have a goal to deepen that relationship. Once we start consistently working out we might have the goal to eat more fruits and veggies. There is always the next step. The next thing to do for improving yourself. Now I do not think we should become complacent. I do believe there is constant room for personal growth. I do believe it is important to have the next goal in sight.
I remember a time when I had a career goal set for my direct selling business. The goal was plastered all over my house. It was on the refrigerator, mirrors, screensaver, wallpaper on my phone, and even in my car. Once I got really serious about this goal I did hit it in about 4 months. Then I didn’t have my next step, my next goal set. In my mind I had arrived. I was mentally exhausted from the big push and didn’t have the next goal that I was on fire about. I wanted to relax and kick back (it was summertime in my defense). In about a month or so the feeling of my success was wearing off and I wanted more. I wasn’t exactly sure what more was, but I know my successful feeling would soon be gone. I would not feel as though I had arrived any longer.
I now know I just needed to define what success meant for me. I am not just meaning the definition of success, which is favorable completion of something; gaining wealth, favor, or prestige. No, I mean your definition of success. What would make you feel that you personally have been successful? At the end of your life, what do you need to have accomplished? Take some time and figure it out. Please write it out with pencil and paper. You may have to break it down into different areas of your life such as relationship, financial, spiritual, health, career, etc. We should all have our own definition of success, not just Webster’s definition.