Does your success measure up?

Success, the accomplishment of an aim or purpose (Oxford, 2020). The SMART goals that you set as a part of your new year resolutions would have had an aim or purpose. Entering March, can you honestly claim that you have had success with any your resolutions? If not, why? What things have happened that prevented you from being successful? If you said yes, how did you measure that success? Were there tangible elements that clearly indicated your success, or was it a case of you recognizing that you’re closer to the fulfilment of your entire goal then you were last month?

For each individual the meaning of success should be personalised. There can be two individuals who have the same goals, but their commitment to their goals, and the opportunities that they have to work towards their goals will be different. So what might be seen as success for one, may not be seen as success for the other. As an example, getting partial depth, with correct form on a full push up could be an amazing success for one. While the other won’t see their push up as successful unless they get full depth. This highlights the importance of not comparing yourself to others, which in this day and age can be hard to avoid. If you are not careful, you will be consistently bombarded with images of those who seem to be having continual, unbelievable success compared to yourself. You need to determine what’s important to you, have worked out your why and understand what is actually driving towards your goals. If you can do this, you will have certainty about what success means, and looks like, to you.

Does belief in your goals lead to you understanding your own success? I say yes to this because if you believe you can achieve the goals you’ve set, you are more

likely to achieve them. However, if you believe that you can’t achieve your goals or that they seem impossible, you probably won’t achieve them and it would be wise to reassess your goals to make them SMART. The attitude that you take towards achieving your goals will ultimately determine your success.

So to answer the question at the top of this article, ‘does your success measure up?’, I say yes. Your success does measure up. At the end of the day, your success will measure up to the standards, values and non-negotiables that form who you are. They are the basis for what you will see as success or failure.

Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below.

DK