What IS Success?
Like many of you reading this, I was poor. Not just shiny poor. Not even just raggedy poor. I was wear the same clothes every day for 8 months at a time, never answer the phone because it was probably a collection agency, breathe a sigh of relief when the electricity stayed on for just one more month poor.
My definition of success could be summed up in one word: MONEY!
I worked hard to achieve success online. I put in 16 hour days, compromising my health and my eyesight, tried a zillion different things, stuck tenaciously to some of them, and like most internet marketers, lost a ton of money, much of it borrowed. Years passed, I wasn’t as young as I had been, and still I was struggling to make even a few dollars online.
One day I realized that I wasn’t making money because my basic premise was wrong. Success has almost nothing to do with money. It’s all about becoming a successful person! That’s why some people can lose it all, and a few months later be at the top again. It’s all about who you are, not what you have.
I began to understand that how I live TODAY is who I am. How I imagined myself living once I had made my fortune was just a thin wisp of a dream. I noticed that I had denied myself many of the small luxuries that cost no money at all, simply because I was waiting to live until I had met my financial goals. There were many things I had the freedom to do, and I started doing them. I didn’t want to risk never having allowed myself to really live because I hadn’t succeeded in one small area of my life.
Here are some things I discovered about success. They are true for you too.
Your worth as a person has very little to do with your financial status.
Your enjoyment in life has even less to do with your financial situation.
Failure doesn’t ever have to lead to defeat. Each individual failure is another step in the stairway to greatness and success.
Challenges are not obstacles, they are opportunities.
When I realized these things my life began to turn around. I learned that there are several major keys to success.
If you are still living with the horrible pressure that comes from believing that money is everything, you may not be able to hear what I’m trying to say. The roar in your ears and soul that comes from the panic of impending ruin does tend to drown everything else out.
Stop for a moment.
Just STOP.
You WILL succeed if you keep it up, and in the meantime, the sky is just as blue, the fruit is just as sweet, and your loved ones are just as dear as if you were a millionaire today. Don’t close your eyes to what you have already achieved. Be the best you that you can be this moment, an enjoy to the fullest all the blessings that you have this very day.
I’ll be covering the six major secrets to real success in the next several posts. Stay tuned!