Success: What It Truly Means To Be Successful

Success has many different definitions. A particular definition of success that I personally believe and hold dear to is this: “Success is the passionate persistent progressive pursuit of a productive purpose”. To achieve success, you need to first enjoy the process required to achieve your goals.

No doubt, people have their own personal definitions of success. Success could mean a flow of fixed monthly income for their family, with 2 overseas trips annually. Success could mean high income with luxurious material wealth to enjoy. All in all, success boils down to 3 specific areas:

1. Health

A famous saying goes, “a healthy mind cannot exist in an unhealthy body”. Taking good care of our bodies should always be our highest priority. You cannot achieve success by lying down on the hospital bed. You can only be successful with a healthy and active body.

Our bodies are a temple, a vehicle that we use to achieve success. We need to eat and sleep well. If you work in a sedentary position, you need to work out to keep your body fit and active.

In fact, if you’re a CEO or a founder of a company, health must be a priority because you have so many important things to do; so many decisions to make. And you can only achieve optimum results when your physical health is in check. 

Besides physical health, your mental health is equally important. In a world where depression and suicides are on the rise, we need to pay extra attention to our mental state.

Our mental faculties are affected when we are bombarded with news, updates, tasks, follow-ups, meetings. These activities make our brains work a lot faster than it should.

Here is one tip to keep yourself mentally sane, take time out to have your personal alone time every day. Spending time in solitude helps you to gather your thoughts in preparation for the day ahead.

2. Wealth

Wealth is the most common definition of success to the world. Individually, people have different and unique ways to achieve their desired wealth to fulfil different purposes. You could be looking for wealth to pay medical bills for your loved ones, to buy a new car or a new home. You could also be looking for wealth to retire comfortably.

Regardless of your purpose, the underlying objective is this, a better quality of life. To most people, money means three things: Security, Power, and Freedom. Money is the core factor in most people’s definition of success.

I have a small homework for you.

Ask yourself this, how much do you need to earn to work towards your journey of financial freedom? Write it down and analyse what you need to do more to achieve your goals. 

3. Relationships

An on-going research conducted by Harvard University for 80 years and counting has revealed that for people to live happily in a community they need to embrace different relationships around them.

Professor Robert Waldinger shared this at a Ted talk recently on one important key to having a good life: Relationships. Relationships are a cornerstone of people’s personal success. 

Having relationships alone is just the surface, the secret is to build deep relationships with people that you love. However, before you can do that, you need to be in a place where you can love yourself first.

Think about this, how are you able to build deeper connection with those you love when you cannot even love yourself?

Love yourself first, then love those around you, and eventually build deeper connection with those you love.

Success

This is true success – having health, wealth and relationships. All three are important for us to lead productive and meaningful lives. May you go on to create big strides in all three areas of your life!

To your success,

Mario