Success looks like...

Success is a funny thing. There are too many iconic figures and things that many people define as successful. You know the old adage, the grass is always greener on the other side...

Well, I have met some one recently that has, what appears to be, a pretty amazing life. But you know what? I wouldn't trade my life for their bank account ever. You see, my life might not be perfect and it has its ups and downs, but that is what makes it uniquely mine...but I digress..

What does success look like? It looks like getting up and working out when there is no fan fare and nobody to coach you on and inspire you. It is the will to get up and go to work and look forward to going home to hang out with your kids. It is staying up late, really late with your sick child to make sure that he is ok. It' putting in the extra effort...it's putting forth your best effort, it's striving to be more, to know more, to be the most you can be...then again at other times it is a matter of being less...less egotistical, less involved...looking inward for answers rather than outward. It's finding peace within yourself and finding that you are worthy regardless of your bank account balance.

It's being comfortable in the lows as well as the highs. It's about maintaining integrity when the law says you don't have to have integrity. It is a constant gut check. It is having the courage to be true to you and to march to a different drum. Sometimes that means you may lose your job because of your beliefs, when other times it is an act of courage to stay on the job and endure.

Success is not something you achieve, it is something you do. It is not final, it is a process. It does not begin and it does not end, it just is. You are or you aren't successful, but only you can make that determination. To let anyone else make that decision is to let that person judge you and that is not a person who will allow you to be truly you. You cannot let the outside world dictate your success or the terms of your success, work towards something and be the sole judge as to whether you have hit your mark or not. Be the judge...but know what you are shooting for. When you let others define success for you, you are already starting down the wrong path.

Real success comes from defining your own path and following it (ok, so this is my definition...don't let me influence your idea of success) regardless of what your family thinks. You have to do what you are and be true to your nature...anything else is the sign of a false entity...


Be true to you. Persevere with gratitude.

Rob