The Art of Success-Mindedness
"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
-- Albert Schweitzer
“It’s not really a job yet because I haven’t gotten paid for it…” he said defensively. The last several weeks this young entrepreneur had spent countless hours, enthusiastically preparing the presentation for his new client. While this young, intelligent and talented man felt rewarded and passionate about his new project there had yet to be any income from this endeavor. He wasn’t feeling very successful.
How do we view success in this country and perhaps even the world? What does it mean to “succeed”? What is the criteria? Who determines our success as viable and valuable? What do we believe is true and is what we believe holding us back from our greatest potential and from striving to live a life of meaning rather than a life solely for profit. Can we have both?
When we take a deep dive into the meaning of success it oftentimes raises a host of other questions, such as, where does my sense of worth lie? What role does money have in my perception of success? Who are my allies? What is the foundation of my value outside of my capital and self-image? If I lost everything who would I be? How would I feel? Who would love me? How would the world see me? Who would care?
When we look at the life of Helen Keller, blind, deaf and mute, every day might have merely been a struggle to grow and become more communicative and passionate for her life as a series of incremental successes. Personal goals, not financial. The trying; the effort and motivation led her to her life’s purpose. Perhaps her teacher, Anne Sullivan’s life purpose was to become Hellen Keller’s guide and her life instructor, teaching her how to read, build herself up and succeed in life simply by striving to push herself and her student beyond both of their personal circumstances.
"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
-- Helen Keller
There are many stories attached to the world of success and failure. What is failure exactly? I never understood why failure is such a dreaded and fearful word or why it is used so often in comparison to “success”. I don’t see things as failing in life but rather changing, finishing or perhaps evolving. With every “failure” is the seed of success. We move on from jobs, career titles, relationships, marriage, business… perhaps “failure” is more about not stagnating as we strive and learn to have more fulfilling careers, stronger, healthier relationships, and so on. We try, and with each attempt we move our lives in a forward direction, which is in fact, success.
“A winner is a dreamer who never gives up…I never lose. I either win or learn.”
-- Nelson Mandala
Do we really fail in the way that failure is taught in this society? Success Mindedness is a way to prepare our minds for a life filled with meaning. A fulfilling career path and a way to support ourselves and impact the world positively. Success Mindedness is having the ability to be creative with our lives, rather than dreading our daily routine or a stressful, career-climbing ladder. It is a feeling of curiosity and it is motivated by our ability to feel inspired about the world around us—a playground for our soul. Success Minded means that we embrace and accept our lives in each phase. It is about asking ourselves what we can learn, who we are and who we would like to be in our successful state of mind. How will we define and redefine what success means to us as we grow into each decade of our lives?
There are plenty of artists, musicians, scientists, writers and inventors who never earned a living during their lifetimes and today we honor and praise their work as magnanimous. They would not be considered failures in any way. Vincent Van Gogh died in 1890 and only sold one painting for approximately $109.00. Today his paintings sell for millions. He is not only considered a success by anyone’s standard, but a genius by many. Yet during his lifetime he was not acknowledged in this way. Dr. Gladys Mae West, born in 1930 is a black mathematician, who is known for her contribution with the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018. Hedy Lamar, born in 1914 was a glamorous actress and also a self-taught inventor and early contributor of wireless communication; posthumously inducted into the hall of fame in 2014. These women were successful in every way.
The poet Edgar Allan Poe, never made enough money to support himself. Galileo Galilei, the Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, died in 1642 and his theories were only accepted in the early 19th century. He built the first telescope! Can you imagine the utter joy of his self-discovery? How could he not have felt successful? The poet, Emily Dickinson died in 1886 and barely published any of her 1,800 poems while she was alive. Franz Kafka, a German writer, was not taken seriously and no publisher would publish his work while he was alive and now he is considered one of the most influential existentialists of the twentieth century. He requested from his executor and friend to destroy his work, but thankfully his friend ignored his request and the world gets to celebrate his immortality.
These are just some individuals who have made their successful place in the world either while they were alive or decades later and sometimes centuries later. I believe that one of the primary driving forces behind their personal success story was how they thought. In other words, a curious mind leads to inspiration, which then leads us to motivation.
As children, we are curious and filled with wonder about ourselves and the world. When we harness this aspect of ourselves as adults the possibilities for authentic success are unlimited. The successful mind must be curious and able to imagine outside of what has already been done, said or experienced by another. In other words, he or she must think “outside the box.”
Success Mindedness is the act of bravery, every day. It is a personal quest for consistent self-improvement, discipline, keen insight into our own nature, talent and skillset. It is having the ability to train ourselves in focused concentration so our greatest self-expression can be of service to others. Financial success can also be a result of Success Mindedness but it is not the driving force behind great minds and personal genius. Financial reward comes to most of us with consistent hard work, combined with opportunity, chance and some luck.
Personal success is the mindset of seeing the journey of (your) life heroically as expressed in the life work of American professor of mythology and comparative religion, Joseph Campbell. Campbell spoke of the Hero’s Journey as the ultimate life path. The path of one’s soul. Success can be found by following the call to step into our lives whether we are afraid or not and to heed our life’s calling.
"There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed."
-- Ray Goforth
A man or woman of accomplishment has more to do with their everyday practice and intentions than how the world will measure their worth. Authentic success is not scaled by one’s popularity or number of followers on social media. It is likened to the feeling one gets from gratitude. When we live a life filled with purposeful intention, gratitude and abundance are the byproducts.
KEYS TO SUCCESS MINDEDNESS:
You decide what success means to you.
You determine your value.
Dream to change the world for the better and then take the necessary actions to do so.
Don’t worry about the end results. Just keep moving in the direction which motivates and inspires you.
Imagine yourself a warrior with a razor-like focus.
Imagine yourself a sage: See your vision and keep your aim.
Be original. Those who copy and parrot the visions and voices of others will never truly know the feeling of authentic success or happiness.
Remember your Beginnings; where your story about life and perception came from: your roots. Some of us are born into a privileged life and that is fortunate and having advantages in our formidable years can give one a head start at living a purposeful life of service but being blessed with a healthy, happy and abundant childhood is no guarantee that you will achieve your goal of happiness as an adult. When we are born into a challenging life with caregivers who do not have many if any tools, our everyday life is focused on mere basic needs being met. Coming from both poverty or affluence poses hidden challenges in our adult lives. Affluence on the outside does not always mean affluence on the inside—we need to find our way in life, on our own, and we accomplish that by believing that we can and taking actionable steps, every day up the ladder of our soul.
Never, ever give up on your purpose, goals and dreams. They will evolve as you grow. If you feel curious and enthusiastic about every day (or most days) you are already a success. Success is a beautiful-feeling word and when incorporated into a lifestyle and daily practice, as part of your life’s routine, success will take on new meaning and value. When you feel satisfaction from your efforts, separate from the point of view of how others see you or how society decides your value, then you will see the value of success as a mindset.
We all come into this world with different attributes and strengths. Success Mindedness is making a conscious choice to work your mind in such a way that you push it to discover, create, imagine and explore different ways of thinking and doing things. When you harness your mind and heart you will free your innate curiosity. With curiosity comes creativity and the discovery of your own personal genius. Find your passions and discipline yourself to complete something you envision. No matter what it is, see it through to the end. Success is personal and oftentimes lonely. You and only you can be the brightest and greatest star ablaze in your unique universe. (Isn’t that wonderful?!) Just because the rest of the world may not see your sparkle does not mean you are not shining! See your glow! See your glow! See your glow!
(I.see.you.)
♥️Xx
R.A.