Most people want to be successful. Success is the “achieving of the results wanted or hoped for” according to Cambridge English Dictionary, that varies from “the attainment of fame, wealth, or social status” adds The Oxford Dictionaries.
Whilst most people are aware of what it takes to attaining success namely goal setting, consistency, focus, time management, discipline, people skills, etc., there are other facts about success that people don’t know about – or do they?
Success comes with a huge cost. It is not gifted to people, rather it is something that they have to achieve, and to do so they will have to put in time, give up much more sleep and put in much more money again and again. Success comes with a price that is normally bigger that what most people bargained for.
Becoming successful can be a very lonely journey. You are holding onto a vision that no one else may get. You may expect and need your loved ones and friends to get the vision with you, but it was not their job to get your vision as the vision is yours and only yours. To nurture your vision you will be willing to put everything into your project or experience but expect to have lonely moments, hours, weeks and months in the process.
Success is hollow and extremely unfulfilling if measured just by business, money earned, likes or popularity on social media. It is a shallow experience indeed if we only measure success by the balance in the bank account, or by the amount of media exposure or by the number of likes, followers, and people giving us accolades.
Rather success is about building memories and relationships, about the ability to live in the moment, the ability to smell the flowers, listen to the sound of the waves, and enjoy a good laughter.
When people trade in the very things that makes life feel successful they realise- often quite late late- that they wish to go back and make sure those things are along the journey too. Marriages break, children become strangers and friendships are mostly with conditions; this is the legacy that comes with fame, popularity and the significant bank account.
Success it is a holistic and entire experience, so when you sign up for success, make sure you sign up for the complete experience from the costly years, the standing up again after many falls, for no one getting your vision and for bringing in your loved ones, have dinner with them, watch a movie together so you won’t leave them behind.
Written by:
Sanaa Lundgren
Collaborative Family Practitioner (SMC)
SACAC Counselling