Success and Why Might it be Dangerous?
If you don’t define what success is to you, then somebody will do it for you. If you aren’t careful, your definition of success might lead you down a frustrating, irritating, infuriating, and demoralizing path. These feelings percolate for many reasons, including comparing yourself to others, unrealistic expectations, and unreasonable metrics.
But let me start with a story about a guy named Dave.
Dave was a part of a band that had just signed a major record deal. They headed to New York to record their album and the day before they went into the studio, Dave’s band decided that they didn’t need him anymore.
Obviously this was heartbreaking. He couldn’t think about anything on the bus ride back to Los Angeles.
If you didn’t know, that’s a 41 hour drive and close to a 3 day bus trip… That’s a lot of thinking time.
He decided that he was going to use his frustration and anger to fuel his rage for mastery and achievement. He was going to start a new band and it was going to be better than the one he just got kicked out of.
His band was going to sell more records, play more shows, make more money, and ultimately go down in history as an overall better band.
Now-a-days, Dave Mustaine is worth over 20 million dollars and his band Megadeth is known worldwide.
But the thing is, there was a time when he still felt like a failure because he could never eclipse the status of the band that let him go - Metallica.
Success - Defined
Success is defined differently by everyone. A healthy definition involves aspects that we can control. Success to the outside world might be bigger cars, bigger houses, more bling, and a sexier body, but all of those are outside of your control. When we focus on what is outside of our control, we can become frustrated, irritated, angry, and demoralized.
So how do you define success? Earl Nightengale said, “Success is nothing more than the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”
What is your worthy ideal? Is it within your control? Write it down and come up with actionable, measurable, steps to reach it. Then, just Push The Rock on a daily basis, taking one step at a time, and watch your ideal come true.
