Defining Success: Don’t overlook these 5 key factors!

From a very early age I have been driven, and a tad bit competitive. This has resulted in me constantly challenging myself to do more, and try to reach things just out of my reach. And this has resulted in me feeling frustrated and overwhelmed at times. I have goals that I want to accomplish, but can’t always attain. Or if I do attain them, I then want to move on to the next thing. It leaves me wondering if I will ever be “successful.”

I remember once, sitting in a restaurant in Chicago with a 20 year old discussing careers and expectations. She was working as a nanny, but was feeling pressure to go back to school. She was torn. She felt like she was expected to go to college, but throughout high school all she wanted to be was a nanny. That was her goal, and she was living it out. She was happy and enjoying her life. In that moment, I knew I was looking at a successful young woman.

This is success, knowing what you want and living it out. This means that the person living in modest apartment can be equally successful as the person who owns the apartment complex. And the person walking a 5K is just as successful as someone running a marathon.

This is success, knowing what you want and living it out. Click To Tweet

Defining Success

Awareness. This is more difficult than it may seem. Knowing what your specific goal is can seem to be a fleeting idea, constantly morphing once you seem to grasp it. This is part of the journey. It’s a way to help you determine what your strengths are, and what tasks you may need to let others handle.

Struggle. There may be seasons of struggle and waiting as you work to attain the goal. This is different than settling for a life you regret. Waiting produces growth and focus. It is not comfortable, nor is it suppose to be. It is refining. Settling, however, produces a feeling of being defeated and no longer wanting to pursue the life that the Lord created you for.

Flexibility. You may have to compromise some things in order to have the most important goal. There are different layers of success, and it may require you to determine which layer is more important. For instance, you may have a dream job of working at a particular company, but this requires working long hours that leaves you missing out on family time. If you also have the goal of stable career that leaves freedom for the family, then you may have to choose.

Change. Our definition of success may change throughout life. Rarely do our goals stay the same. What I wanted ten years ago is not the same as today. The heart behind my goals, however, has remained the same. It simply looks different in the action. Our goals may change over the years, but as long as your are working toward that goal, then success is already in process.

Peace. Living in peace is a sign of success. We are right where we need to be, and we know it. This gives us an calmness and confidence, which shines as beautiful!

Everybody has a desire to be successful, they may just not know what success means to them. Knowing this makes it important to also value other people’s definition of success. We cannot hold other people to the standards we have set for ourselves.

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14, NIV

The Lord has a different journey for each of us. By knowing Christ, we all finish at the same spot, but we are not all called to live the same way. We need both the migrant worker laboring in the field, and the physician treating our ailments. We need both the encourager, and the challenger. We need all of us.

Be who you were created to be.