Success means different things to different people (Flashback of column written 5/26/04)

Someone once said that we should expect to succeed even before we start. All winners, no matter what their game, start with the expectation that they are going to succeed. Winners say, “I want to do this, and I can do this,” not, “I would like to do this, but I don’t think I can.”

Let’s look at success in some detail today. Though unitarily considered as such, success does not consist of fame, which may vanish, nor of riches which may dissipate. Life is a cycle of service. He who serves best attains success whether that service be humble, or of great endeavor. Success is that priceless wealth which the heart, the mind and the soul possess. When high ideals are fulfilled; when adversity is vanished; when a difficult task is accomplished; when achievement triumphs over circumstances.

A desire for success is that power with which the Creator has given every human. It is a vital, restless force, which overcomes handicaps, mental, physical or environmental regardless of age, sex, creed or color. Recognition of this power and its development and use is one factor that makes for success.

Success for different people has different meanings. The baby who completes its first steps feels successful. The engineer who harnesses a mighty waterfall and bends it to his will feels successful.

Success, for you, may not represent success for your friend, who might have a better education, or more opportunities to achieve things. I like this little verse: To each is given a bag of tools; A shapeless mass and a book of rules; And each must make ere life has flown; A stumbling block or a stepping stone.

Success might be defined as honest labor well done, a worthy task faithfully accomplished. Success might be a reputable profession honorably practiced. Success might be holding steadfast to high ideals, morally, socially or artistically. Success might be loyalty to one’s self, to one’s work, to friends. It might be the courage to carry on. It might be a contest fairly won on life’s field of honor.

Michelangelo said, “Trifles make perfection but perfection is no trifle.” Shakespeare said, “This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou can’st not then be false to any man.” And in the Scriptures, Paul said, “I press forward towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

If we are to be successful in life we must set a mark and press toward some goal. If it be only to have the cleanest house or the prettiest yard on your block, consider yourself to have attained some success in life when you reach that goal.

Be happy in the thought that each day you did your very best to press toward a high mark. The type of goal or mark you set depends upon the type person you are and the tools in your tool chest.

Finally, rest assured that nothing will ever be accomplished by a person who sits by the side of life and merely watches it go by. Be up and doing! Let the reaching of one goal merely be a stepping-stone to another. And in all your striving for success, be sure it is a success that will make the world a better place and those around you happier, while knowing that you have always given your best in everything you do.

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