Articles in issue #5
The measure of success
If you’re ready to get serious about life December is the time to do it.
As we roll into the holiday season I know that most of us are just trying to wind things down for the year.
With all the food, the festive atmosphere and the shopping, there’s no question that the holidays are busy enough and you kind of get swept up in it all.
But a thought hit me as I was standing in line being peppered with Christmas carols the other day – December is also a time to look back on the year and see how you’ve done… to measure the success that you’ve had… and think about your success in the future.
However, these days, most people just think that the word “success” means – how much money you’ve got in the bank… and I’ll admit that’s one way to tally up your accomplishments… but only if they can also admit that by the same standard hoarders are very successful people.
Just look at HOW MUCH stuff they’ve got!
No. What I’m really talking about is HOW you measure success, not just the end of the year results.
I know that it’s a little hard to divide these two concepts. Let’s look at why that is.
I guess it’s just the way we were raised.
In school, your success was generally measured by others. You tried to impress you teachers with your work and they graded you based on your test results and their subjective opinion.
Ok. So you were driven to get results, but you weren’t really the one deciding HOW those results were measured and you were never the one doing the measuring, were you.
Money seems to be a much better way of looking at how much you’ve accomplished in life, but only if we were all born into the same circumstances and opportunities…
What about people who just inherited their fortunes, would you say that they were truly successful people or just lucky?
I think that the closest we can come to a good measure of success is if we take look at sports.
Athletes have to achieve their success game after game and play after play.
They are constantly being measured and that’s half the fun of it all.
That’s why when I say “play”, I mean just that.
Success should be fun. It should fill you with excitement at the very same time that it give you that wobbly feeling of vertigo in your knees.
It should drive you forward with personal rewards, motivating you to achieve day after day, not just pay check by pay check.
And success or failure, we need to realize that the key to ultimate success lies in how well we measure our actions and learn from them.
I say this because a lot of people tend to catch a bad case of the holiday blues as they feel the year coming to a close.
They think about all of the things that they couldn’t do and, along with too many sugary sweet Christmas carols, they start to get down on themselves.
I think we’ve all been there.
The problem is that society just teaches us to look at the end results.
And if you don’t have any job, family or even presents under the tree – things can look pretty bleak.
But here’s the thing, going back to my sports analogy, that can turn that all around.
Every success counts. It doesn’t matter how big or how small it is – it’s a victory.
And, it’s important that we measure that success so that we can learn how to be more and more successful as time goes on.
That’s why as we reach the end of this year I’ve just got one thing to say.
Forget New Year’s resolutions. When have they ever really worked anyway?!
Instead, let’s look at December 31st as the final buzzer in the first game of the season.
Now is the time to think about the plays you’d like to make… how you can score for yourself or how you can help others reach their goals.
Let’s hustle.
Make a plan of action and reward yourself as you move up every step of that ladder.
Treat yourself to a movie… have a bon fire on the beach with friends… take a nap in the park on a sunny day. It doesn’t have to be expensive it just has to be a recognition that you have accomplished the thing that you set out to do. That’s how you can make it fun.
This is the game and you’re in it.
If you can hit that layup at work, make a great assist for someone you care about or even play some good “D” with your Christmas spending – you deserve the credit.
That’s the measure of success.
-Jeremiah Magone
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