photo credit: Marty.FM

“There is only one suc­cess — to be able to spend your life in your own way.” ~ Christo­pher Mor­ley

What is suc­cess anyway? 

How do YOU define it?

Per­haps we’ll hear of some­one who has “hit it big”, who has all the toys, who lives in the biggest house, who…

Per­haps that is you.  Your neigh­bor.  The guy dri­ving down the street.  The woman com­mut­ing an hour to work every­day.  The kid vol­un­teer­ing at the food pantry.  The retiree who just won the lottery. 

Is there some­thing deeper, though, that makes this life we are liv­ing more mean­ing­ful?  Is there some­thing else there, adding depth to our years?

I believe, very much, that this con­cept of a deeper suc­cess is way more than what we can see on the out­side look­ing in.

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intel­li­gent peo­ple and the affec­tion of chil­dren … to leave the world a bet­ter place … to know even one life has breathed eas­ier because you have lived.  This is to have suc­ceeded.”

Suc­cess and mean­ing in life, some­thing really much deeper than what we see in terms of things, accom­plish­ments, and posi­tion. Suc­cess, true suc­cess, is some­thing that comes from within. 

Comes from HOW we are liv­ing are lives.  Comes from WHY we do what we do.  When we con­nect more deeply with these how’s and why’s, we reach suc­cess at a much more mean­ing­ful level.

 

Suc­cess and Deeper Mean­ing in this Life:

With that, I give you eleven indi­vid­u­als who I believe exem­plify what suc­cess is truly all about.  Read below as they share their pearls of wis­dom on suc­cess and mean­ing on this life journey.

Holly Latty-Mann:
As I evolve on this jour­ney, so does my def­i­n­i­tion of suc­cess.  Suc­cess is no longer cre­at­ing a life void of mis­for­tune or pain, as those are the very ele­ments that cre­ate the fiber from which deep, mean­ing­ful suc­cess is spawned.  Suc­cess is there­fore man­ag­ing with grace and dig­nity what­ever mis­for­tune befalls me. And the other half of what gives deep mean­ing to my sense of suc­cess is that feel­ing of peace­ful joy as I cel­e­brate daily the hun­dreds of things that do go right in my world.  With grat­i­tude and grace, every­thing else falls into place.

 

Scott Strat­ten:
Suc­cess to me is being able to sup­port my fam­ily and myself. And when I say sup­port, that doesn’t mean just finan­cially, but emo­tion­ally as well.  One can usu­ally cloud the other.

 

Patience Sal­gado:
I so often want to define or attach suc­cess to big indi­vid­ual accom­plish­ments, but I’m learn­ing more and more every­day that true suc­cess lies in a mil­lion small acts that together reveal a whole life, a whole pas­sion, a whole heart. For me, this makes the every­day so much more mean­ing­ful, know­ing that each small act of kind­ness, love, truth, or courage really do matter. In these acts of con­nect­ing and mov­ing with this intent through the world, we push beyond our­selves and into cre­at­ing some­thing so much big­ger, suc­cess for us all.  

 

Daniel Pink:
Suc­cess, to me at least, is leav­ing the world (and your own lit­tle patch of that world) a lit­tle bet­ter than you found it. If peo­ple are some­how bet­ter off — mate­ri­ally, intel­lec­tu­ally, spir­i­tu­ally — because of your pres­ence, that’s pretty good.

 

Rachel Den­ning:
Suc­cess is not a big home, a large income, and all the ‘stuff’ that’s involved in the pea­cock pageant. Suc­cess comes from qui­etly and con­fi­dently liv­ing on pur­pose, mov­ing toward your dreams, and liv­ing sim­ply within your means. It’s the feel­ing you get when you’re liv­ing right.

 

Kerry Tay­lor:
Suc­cess is an organic apple in one hand, and a tool sharp enough to share the fruit with oth­ers with­out fear of bleeding.

 

Chris Guille­beau:
Suc­cess is con­tin­u­ous improve­ment of cir­cum­stances and mean­ing­ful adventure.

 

Maren Kate:
Suc­cess is almost an ethe­real “I’ve arrived” feel­ing — not 100% how to describe it but I know I’ll know it when it comes.  The deep­est mean­ing I get from fol­low­ing the entrepreneur’s path is the feel­ing of going against the grain and build­ing some­thing I can be proud of.

 

Seth Godin:
I think you’re suc­cess­ful once you cre­ate work that mat­ters, some­thing that was fright­en­ing to cre­ate and pow­er­ful to behold.

 

Chris Bro­gan:
Suc­cess means improv­ing every ele­ment of my life (fam­ily, work, fit­ness, wealth) a lit­tle bit every day and being able to smile more each time I see the results of my efforts.

 

Liz Strauss:
On this jour­ney, I get deep mean­ing from con­nect­ing with peo­ple where they live — in their heads, in their hearts, and in the way they view the world. Every per­son brings me some­thing I didn’t know and would have learned with­out that par­tic­u­lar con­nec­tion. If I lis­ten with who I am I often find they reveal truth and trust that shines bril­liantly and that inspires me to live bet­ter, be bet­ter, and bring my best game to the world.

While every­one who shared here has words that are slightly dif­fer­ent, there is one over-riding theme.  Suc­cess and mean­ing in this life are very per­sonal and so much more than any phys­i­cal things we might obtain.  Suc­cess is truly in liv­ing this thing called life.

To each of you:  thank you for the gifts you bring to this world, for the con­nec­tion you cre­ate from a place of authen­tic­ity, and for your being here to add mean­ing and depth with your thoughts.

Suc­cess:

For me, I find deep per­sonal mean­ing in this life from liv­ing in a place that con­nects my heart and soul out­ward.  When I do this, when I’m aligned with my own inter­nal com­pass — I suc­ceed.  When I come from this place, when I form con­nec­tions at a deeper level — I suc­ceed.  When I love…I succeed…

And you do, too.  You do, when you lis­ten to that voice within and move more fully toward your own true peak.

What is suc­cess, anyway?

How do YOU define it?

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Com­ing next week!  Many updates to the Jun­gle of Life web­site, and the release of the e-book with the same name as this site:  Jun­gle of Life | a jour­ney toward your true peak.

Enter your name and email address in the side­bar to receive the e-book as soon as it is released. 

Jun­gle 2.0…the jour­ney continues…

photo credit: Mitra Mir­shahidi–

“If the essence of my being has caused a smile to have appeared upon your face or a touch of joy within your heart, then in liv­ing, I have made my mark.” ~ Thomas L. Odem

The per­ma­nent ele­ment of your being.  That which is within you.

More than your name.  More than some­thing you stud­ied (are study­ing) in school.  More than some some job title you hold.

Who are you?

Deep within YOU, what is it that makes you so unique, so amaz­ing, so incred­i­ble, so YOU?

What is your essence?

Discover…and LIVE!

What is it that makes you come alive, lose track of time, imag­ine the pos­si­bil­i­ties, jump up and down, get lost in thought, smile for no rea­son at all?

Find that piece of YOU – that piece which sings YOUR song!

You are remarkable!

You are amazing!

You are incredible!

You are fan­tas­ti­cally and per­fectly made!

You rock!

You shine!

You make me jump up and down…with all that IS possible!!

Y O U  !!

~ Com­ments Closed ~