How do you measure success?
Mon, February 14, 2022 I have spent many hours pondering the question, what is success, and by what yardstick does one measure success? I have come to the conclusion that success has a different meaning for different people.
Some measure success by money, but unless success brings one joy and satisfaction, is it really success? One can be successful in terms of money, but an absolute failure in terms of everything else. A relationship with a spouse or children, for example.
Friends who recently returned from Africa, after several years in the Peace Corps, told me, there are people who live in mud huts, existing on a handful of rice a day, and yet are basically happy and content with their lives.
People do not know they are poor unless they have contact with wealth and can see others who have more than they do. It would be hard to live in a mud hut in America and have the degree of contentment of someone living in remote parts of Africa, for example.
Success is meeting your expectations. If your expectations are a handful of rice a day, and that is what you get. You are successful, and you are content. If you have a little chicken to go with your rice, you have exceeded expectations and you are even happier.
Success can be fleeting, but that is alright, there are always other successes that follow. I think I can honestly say I was a successful framebuilder. I became a good framebuilder because I built a lot of frames, and repetition is the key to success with any skill.
There was a time when I made a lot of money as a framebuilder, but the success was fleeting. Market trends and consumer tastes changed. I could have changed too, but I didn’t and so moved on and set other goals. That doesn’t make me any less successful as a framebuilder now, than the day I left the business.
This is why I believe one cannot quantify success in terms of money only. To me success is measured in satisfaction. Knowing that people are still riding bikes I built back in the 1980s, and enjoy doing so, brings me immense satisfaction.
After I left the bike business, I wrote a successful novel. My intentions were to write a best-selling novel, but I settled for satisfaction once more.
Seldom without exception, people who read my novel Prodigal Child rave about it. That is highly satisfying. The book was never a bestseller, because relatively few people know of it. It was never reviewed in the New York Times or blessed by Oprah Winfrey.
This blog too is no small success. Started in 2005, coming up 17 years, draws readers from all over the world. It gets recognition from other quarters too. (See these awards in the top right column of this page.)
Success is recognizing the small or partial successes, because collectively they too bring joy, and satisfaction. The key is to have a few more successes than failures in life, and you are always ahead of the game. Occasionally there will be a little chicken to go with your rice.
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Reader Comments (4)
I define success by setting goals that you want to achieve and then doing them. Sports, travel, financial, personal relationships, helping to save SOMEthing… Everyone is different. Failure is trying to out-do somebody else’s idea of success. IMHO
"Prodigal Son" ... is your book still available?
The only rule for this to set your own rules. Accepting someone else's definition of success is a sure plan for heartbreak and disappointment.
While we all need some form of external validation, we have to be careful how we let it shape us.
Is your goal faithfulness to a person, cause, faith, or ideal, fine.
If you trying to increase skill or knowledge in some are that interests you, go for it.
Just be aware that when external conditions force you to make changes that isn't failure. Failure is not being able to pick yourself up, regroup, and move forward.
Dan,
Nice to know I have a friend, thank you.
TBR,
Prodigal Child is available on my Online Store Here
edstainless,
Thank you for the excellent and thoughtful comment, a great addition to the piece.
Dave