We recently talked about a choice you can make that heals your past, transforms your present, and can alter the course of your future. It’s a “No Brainer” upgrade to your life that brings hope and new-found energy to every area and every relationship. This upgrade represents inside knowledge of your own custom drives, preferences, and strengths. But there are obstacles to this upgraded life that can choke out your potential. Learn how to keep the path to your success free and clear – starting with how you define success.
Obstacle #1: Using the Wrong Definition of Success
The first obstacle to your upgraded life starts when you decide to define success according to someone else’s definition.
- Have you been trying to succeed by following your friend’s advice? That’s not a bad thing. But embedded in your friend’s advice is your friend’s goals and your friend’s paths, not yours. Make sure to define the word success for yourself.
- Have you read how someone has accomplished something truly remarkable and you want to succeed like them, so you adopt their goal? That’s a common cause of failure.
Success goals must feel as though they fit. Goals that fit arise from within you, not from some other person’s experience. If you’ll deliberately carve the shape of your destiny and not let circumstances or others do it for you, success is yours for the taking. So get rid of all the goals that you know in your heart are not yours, or goals you’ve chosen because you’re trying to duplicate someone else’s success.
Self-Discovery Leads to Better Goals
To be the best person, parent, leader, helper, or whatever you generally desire to be, you must be willing to take on some “deep” work. Our success in all things lies with an inner self-understanding. If you can’t hear the drum that beats relentlessly within your spirit, it’s time to connect with that rhythm.
Discovering your inner design is the first step:
Success Defined Your Way
No doubt you’ve dreamed of success and fulfillment in key areas of your life. Your desires as expressed in these dreams indicate something about what you define as success for you.
- Do you dream of rewarding relationships or being significant in the lives of others?
- Do you long to lead others to progress and breakthrough or support them as they seek to reach their full potential?
- Is it your idea of success to create something that will advance civilization?
- Is achieving a finely tuned or exceedingly developed skill your idea of success?
Ponder your desires and your personal definitions of success, because success for one could represent failure for another.
Your Upgraded Future
So, how about it? Are you ready to ditch goals that don’t fit? Here’s how.
- Start by discovering your inner design.
- Continue by defining success for yourself. Consider the following:
- Is my definition of success one I got from someone else?
- Is it formed to satisfy me or someone else?
- Does it make me feel as though I will have to become someone else to achieve it?
- Does it feel as though it fits?
- Will it inspire me?
- Is it too hazy, lacking sharply-defined boundaries?
- Is it an adequate goal?
- Does it support my values?
Bring the results of your answers back next week as we continue to outline how to avoid the obstacles that prevent you from choosing your upgraded life. In the meantime, check out this guide to defining success your way: INNERKINETICS by Ray W. Lincoln.