What is Your Philosophy on Success?
Today's world concentrates on success. We teach our children that getting good grades is necessary to get into a good college and good grades in college are necessary to get a good job. Work hard at that job and you'll get raises and promotions and you'll be successful and achieve the American Dream. We like winners. We can recite the winners of sports championship games like the Super Bowl, or World Series, TV show winners like American Idol, Survivor or Dancing with the Stars, or the Best Picture Oscar. Theodore Roosevelt won the presidential election in 1904. He was "successful." Who did he defeat - do you know? I didn't. Does that mean the other candidate wasn't successful?
Business owners wants to be "successful." They want their companies to thrive and make money. Some of them want to have global companies that make hundreds of millions of dollars and employ thousands of people. Some want expensive houses and private jets. Others want the independence of being their own boss, setting their own hours and controlling their own lives. Not all of us own our own businesses, but we still have goals and dreams. We have successes and failures.
So what is your philosophy on success? What does success mean to you?
I asked that question to several people recently and here are some of the answers I received:
Success
"Success for me is making a positive impact on others or the world."
"Philosophy of success? That's a hard one. There is so much! If I had to pick just one it would be a saying by Steven Covey: "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
"I read a poem a few years ago that really had an impact on me. It says 'One hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.' My son is my world and my success is raising him to be the best person he can be; teaching him to be kind, compassionate, hard-working, independent - and to make my job as a parent obsolete."
Let's start a conversation.
If you're a business owner, how do you determine if your company is successful? Is it the bottom line? Is it happy employees? Is it a global impact? What do you do to make your success a reality?
If you're an employee, what defines success for you in your position - how do you measure it? Is it the amount of responsibility you have, your pay and benefits, the trust placed in you by your employer?
No matter who you are or what position you may have, post a comment and tell us what your definition of success is and how you achieve that goal. Share your strategies - I look forward to hearing what you have to say!
If you have a B2B need that you think is missing a solution, send in your ideas to info@oexusa.com. We're always on the lookout for great ideas and the companies that have them!