(ThyBlackMan.com) What does success mean to you? How does success look? What have you been successful at doing? The truth is success means many things to many people. For one, success could be improving a bad test score; for another, it could mean just making it to graduation day.
One thing we know for certain: success is relative.
It’s possible, though, to predict success in any venture we put our energy into – if we have the requisite courage and if we follow a simple pattern.
One of the best definitions of success I’ve run across was penned by Earl Nightingale:
‘Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.’
Two things: First, success is progressive. Two, success is worthy.
My interpretation:
Success is an ideal that is ‘happening’ right now.
What I have learned is that success is rarely the destination, but rather the journey. It’s how we are made and what makes us along the way; the ups and downs, crazy turnarounds, the bumps and bruises along the way that fills us with the stuff of success.
In other words, success is happening right now, as you move toward the stated goal. The following four maxims (among others) are important mental sign posts on the highway to the outcome we desire. Use them when you find your optimism at a low ebb and flow.
One: If you are moving toward a predetermined goal, you are successful. In other words, movement is essential to success. You cannot experience success by standing still. In fact, if you’re not moving, you’re not doing too much at. The goal of football is to move toward the goal line, to put one’s self into scoring position. Emphasis on ‘moving toward’; we garner success simply by movement.
Action:
Write down an action step for each day. Make it your goal to complete that single step before the close of business. Remember, you must move to be successful.
Two: Success cannot be explained, success must be experienced. Don’t get caught up in explaining your vision to others – most people won’t get it. Someone put it this way: Stop asking the blind to proofread your vision! Sometimes you can’t even explain it to yourself! It’s best to experience your success.
Action:
Do not count your defeats, but always add up your blessings! Chart the gains but ignore the setbacks – unless you are mining them for success tips.
Three: Success is a learned trait – don’t be afraid to imitate. Our original ideas are invaluable; we need ideas as motors of ingenuity and innovation. Our greatest teachers for success are the people around us – whether they are failures or success stories.
Action:
Imitate success. Regurgitate failure. Learn from the best. Do not be afraid to take a failure and flip it. Identify one person whose success you admire. Educate yourself on how this person accomplished their goals.
Four: Construct a success consciousness. A success consciousness is the ability to see one’s success in spite of appearances to the contrary; it is breathing, living, moving, and feeling successful that shines through one’s darkest hour in which our subconscious mind takes over the minute-by-minute operation for attaining the level of success we want for ourselves.
Action:
When you get in bed tonight, just before you slip into slumber, repeat this affirmation at least 21 times:
I am powerful beyond measure.
Success is happening right now!
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitestrategiescoaching.com.