wood meter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today’s post was “The Vintage Office,” however, after reading a post this morning, I decided to write a different post, and reschedule that one.  The post inspired me to ponder/write about the issue of success, and what it means or how it measures. The more I thought about it, it continued to be clear to me that success is not something that can be defined in one way, neither measured.

Our society conditions us to measure success by the expectations of the majority, and we may end up measuring our own success with the same narrow stick – money, material possessions, fans, popularity … . However, success goes beyond labels and expectations, and it should matter more to us at a personal and deeper level.  You should measure your own success by the ruler that you create at a particular moment in your life, and that is why what others think of success, might not necessarily apply to you.

What is success to you? Think about it, and think deep. What makes you happy? What rings your bell? What is your ideal state of success? It may be wealth, it may be glory, it may be writing a novel, maybe, being able to stay alive one more day. Those represent examples of success for somebody. Someone is measuring success by what makes them happy or fulfilled, and that differs between people.

This is why it is important to never apply someone else’s definition of success to your own; otherwise, you will be miserable and may waste your time following someone else’s dream and path, or someone else’s misdirection.

The timing of success varies as well. Today, you might find success in making tons of money; tomorrow, you may find success in giving part of it away – and making other’s dreams possible. In both circumstances, you have been successful, but according to your own measure of success. It may be that you want to write a novel and publish it. You work hard at it, and finally, you publish it – you have been successful in accomplishing that part of your success story. The rest, you keep measuring one inch, one step, one dream at a time, making yourself accountable, by your own efforts and determination.

The frustration and sadness, as well as the insecurity or doubt comes to us when we use someone else’s yard stick to measure our own success, being that, someone’s opinion of what “success or greatness means,” or when we compare our lives or our own success to that of another, not realizing that although we are all related and intertwined in this universe, it is only by achieving the measure of our own success that we make our contribution to the universe, and find happiness/fulfillment.

I have been guilty myself of measuring my success by the rulers of others, at times, as well as by the dreams of others (whether for themselves or their dreams for me); however, it wasn’t until I understood this concept that I was able to let go of all the rulers collected over time (and a long time that was), and start adding inches to my own.

Think of what makes you happy, of what you love, of what makes your bell ring, and your days brighter … measure your success by attaining those.

Much success to you all!