What is the true meaning of success?

The true meaning of success is to decide what you truly want in life, and then to make a plan, deploy that plan, and achieve the desired result. Contrary to popular belief, you can define success however you want in your life. This is the true meaning of success. 

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What is success?

Or, perhaps more importantly…

What is success for you?

See, it’s easy to point at certain people that we see, and say: 

“Look, they’re successful. They have a great family, a great job, a successful business, they’re healthy, they’re well-liked, etc.” 

But it’s a whole different game to look at yourself and ask yourself, on a serious level:

‘What exactly do I want in life? What technically defines success for me in my own life? What EXACTLY am I aiming for and striving to accomplish?”

If these sound like tough questions, you’re definitely not alone in believing so. 

They ARE tough questions. 

But they’re exactly the types of questions that you should be asking yourself in order to get started on your goal-setting and life-success journey. 

Why?

Because without a destination in mind, you can’t truly begin an intentional journey. 

So deciding on a destination is really where the entire process begins. 

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Note: If you’re interested in the content matter of this post, then you’ll definitely be interested in our master guide to goal setting. Make sure to check that out to get a full rundown of the entire process, from beginning to end, along with a full list of resources and other guides.

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What Defines Success?

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines success as: the degree or measure of succeeding; a favorable or desired outcome. 

What is success in simple words?

In simple terms, success is really just a favorable, positive, desired outcome where you’ve achieved something you were aiming to accomplish. 

But see, there’s a deeper question that we all need to ask ourselves when it comes to figuring out what we truly desire in life. 

What is real success?

Or, perhaps, even more specifically…

What is success to me?

See, this is a much deeper question—because it requires you to get really specific about exactly what you’re aiming for in life. 

And therein lies the key. 

What are you aiming for in life? 

This is exactly the question that you want to answer to help you define what success actually means for you. 

And in this post, you’re going to learn my simple 3-step process for how to figure this out. 

Step 1 – Determine What You Want In Life

How exactly do you determine what you want in life? Use these steps to start figuring it out. 

Dare To Dream Big

What is the meaning of success?

When you first ask yourself this question, the best way to start formulating the answer is to just allow yourself to dream as big as possible. 

Think about what you’d like your future to be if you could imagine anything you wanted. 

At first, don’t worry about things like how difficult it could be or how out of reach it seems. 

That’s what the whole process of goal setting will help to solve. 

Start out by just dreaming big and being authentic with yourself about the reality of what you desire.

Do Research

If you’re not even totally sure what your dreams are, consider doing a bit of research.

You could look at the lives of people you admire, explore different types of career opportunities, do research about the types of places where you might want to live one day, or even research a different type of lifestyle that you might like to involve yourself in at some point on your journey. 

Sometimes, in order to dream as big as possible, you need to open up your mind to new horizons and just allow yourself to learn about new things.

Explore Your Inspiration

What is the true meaning of success?

The truth of the matter is that you get to decide this for yourself.

And it really all starts with your own creativity and inspiration. 

• What types of things do you enjoy researching?
• What types of things do you enjoy learning about?
• What types of things excite you and cause you to stop in your tracks to listen and/or engage in conversation?
• When you’re at a party and you hear people talking about specific topics, which are the topics that are nearly impossible for you to ignore, simply due to the fact that you find them so interesting and inspiring? 

These are questions that may lead you to some of the answers about what you’d like to achieve for yourself in life. 

Identify Common Themes

When asking ourselves the question:

“What is success in life?” 

It’s important to identify ‘common themes’ within your dreams, goals, and aspirations. 

Maybe you already know exactly what you would love your life to look like. 

Or, maybe you’re still filling in the blanks. 

Try to identify some common themes and things that you enjoy—things that inspire and motivate you.

You could also research common adjoining themes to those topics. 

This might seem like a lot of work, but it’s totally worth it. 

Brainstorming some specifics about the type of life that you’d like to live is incredibly important to the process of determining what success might look like specifically for you.

Think About Yourself In The Future

When asking yourself the question:

“What makes a person successful?” 

The answer should always be individual to what that person desires for their life. 

So try to imagine where you’d like your life to be in 5, 10, 20, or even 30 years. 

Try to imagine where you’d like to be at each of your major life transitions. 

Think about what you’d like these transitions to look like, and what kind of lifestyle you’d like to be living during those periods of your life. 

Sometimes, just fleshing out these major milestones can be really informative in helping you to formulate the basis for what a successful life would look like for you. 

Some major life milestones that you might want to think about could include:

• Graduating from high school
• Graduating from college 
• Getting married
• Beginning your career path 
• Buying your first home
• Starting your own business
• Having your first child
• Becoming a grandparent 
• Retiring
• Doing volunteer work

Figure Out What Excites You

This ties right into figuring out what you’re passionate about. 

What topic continually engages your interest?

Which subjects, when discussed or entertained, really inspire you, excite you, and just thrill you to the core of your soul?

Figuring out what excites you can give you a massive clue into what you actually desire for yourself.

For example:

I had one goal-setting mentee who was passionate and excited about writing and sharing his thoughts and views via the written word. And he really wanted to use this talent to help make the world a better place. 

He ended up starting a blog, writing several books, and launching his own coaching business.

It’s all about figuring out what really matters to you—and then finding a way to leverage that to create the life you desire. 

Identify What You’re Good And/Or Talented At 

Another thing to look at are your skills, talents, and gifts. 

Hey, you can learn to be pretty good at anything. 

But most of us have some very specific talents that we tend to really be good at. 

Some of us are just naturally skilled at one or more different things. 

And oftentimes, what ends up happening is that we end up really enjoying those things as well. 

Tapping into this can be a great way to help you figure out what you might want to look at when defining what a successful life looks like to you. 

For example: 

If you tend to be a natural-born leader, then you may want to consider going into business management. 

If you tend to be naturally talented at helping other people learn, perhaps becoming a teacher, or even a private tutor, might be an excellent career path for you.

Step 2 – Write It Down

1. It Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect

What is success according to you?

When answering this question, the best first step for laying down the actual groundwork for an answer is to just start writing down some possible answers. 

Keep in mind, however, that it doesn’t have to be perfect. 

In fact, sometimes the best thing to do is just to write down stuff that you think might be right, and then see how it feels. 

Sometimes, writing down the wrong things can provide almost as much insight as writing down the right things. 

2. Be As Specific As Possible

While it’s difficult to get specific when writing down goals and plans, it’s also really advantageous. 

For example, writing down:

“I want to be a successful teacher.”

Is good, but it’s not going to be nearly as useful as saying something like:

“I want to be a successful history professor at Stanford University.”

See, the more specific you can get when writing down what success means to you, the better you’ll be able to describe exactly what you’re aiming for—and the better equipped you’ll be to actually start formulating a plan later on in the goal setting process. 

3. If You’re Not Sure Of The Specifics, Just Write Down What You DO Know

Listen, getting specific can be scary and difficult. 

At first, you may need to stay relatively vague. 

If so, just keep on working on it—day after day. 

Every day, take 10 minutes to pull out that piece of paper or that journal to review your definition for success. 

Maybe you’ll think of something new—and modify or add it to your list. 

Sometimes, this process of continually coming back and adding little things can add up to a much more specific and detailed plan later on.

Step 3 – Sleep On It – Then, Review, Revise, And Go

Sometimes, Your Definition Of Success Will Change Over Time

Sometimes, people come up with fantastic, specific ideas for what they’d like to achieve, and write them down to start making a plan. 

Then, they may start researching it and/or beginning the process of pursuing it, only to realize that they actually feel like changing their mind. 

Hey, this is totally fine. 

In fact, this usually tends to indicate that you’re making progress in figuring out what you truly want. 

There’s a big difference between pivoting due to new information, and being wishy-washy. 

If you’re being wishy-washy and you tend to bounce back and forth between different ideas all the time, then you may need to have a hard conversation with yourself and commit to just one of your options. 

However, if your pivots tend to lead you on a narrower, more certain path to where you want to go—and if they tend to take the shape of a learning journey—well, this is actually a really good thing. 

This is the process of you honing in and getting even more specific about what you actually want. 

Sometimes, we have to pivot in life if we want to figure out what we should actually be doing. 

For example, maybe you think to yourself:

“I really want to be a history professor at Stanford.”

But then, after researching Stanford University, you happen to come across some information about West Point Military Academy. 

Then, maybe, for some reason, you just can’t shake the idea of going to West Point. 

Ultimately, you may feel so driven by this new idea that you change your goals and pivot, saying: 

“I’ve changed my mind. I want to attend West Point Military Academy and graduate to be an officer.”

And if this is really what you want, then realizing this (and pivoting to move toward it) is a huge victory. 

See, sometimes pivoting is a result of learning new information—and it helps us to actually get closer to the truth of what success will mean for us. 

And this is amazing. 

Never be afraid to change your definition of success for yourself when you feel that the time has come to do so. 

It’s Natural For Your Goals To Fluctuate And Evolve Over Time

This is true no matter what stage of life you’re in. 

Whether you’re in high school, college, working in your career, or even nearing retirement—goals will fluctuate and evolve as you gain new life experiences, and as your perception of the world changes. 

Don’t fight against this or resist it. 

It’s always better to go with the flow, and to allow yourself to intentionally pivot and change your plan rather than to struggle against your natural desires and stifle yourself in life. 

When we’re on the right path, we should be excited about that path—and we should feel motivated and driven to achieve it. 

If you find yourself bored, listless, and not really caring about what you’re doing—or even worse, if you find yourself bitter, angry, or resentful of the path you’ve chosen—it may be a sign that you didn’t pivot when your heart changed directions, and that this is your body and soul’s way of telling you:

“Hey, it’s time for a change. It’s time to switch things up.”

What To Do If You Get Stuck

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you’re just going to feel stuck in this process of figuring out what success means to you. 

For some people, this isn’t ever really a problem. 

But some people can get really hung up on ‘analysis paralysis.’ 

So let’s talk about some steps you can take to possibly jar yourself out of this ‘stasis,’ and figure out the definition of success for you.

1. Travel

Interestingly enough, traveling is awesome for your mental health.

But it’s also an incredibly creative process, because it’s a process that directly stimulates your exploration and discovery senses. 

If you’re completely stuck with figuring out what success looks like for you, and you just have zero idea of what you want in life, then consider taking a trip to somewhere you’ve never visited before. 

This will definitely inspire you and motivate you to dream big.

2. Just Pick Something

Sometimes, you just have to choose the most likely answer and write it down. 

At first, you may instantly realize that this isn’t what you actually want. 

However, the fact that you’re writing it down and contemplating it is part of the process of figuring out what you truly do want. 

Just picking something, writing it down, and mulling it over is actually an important step to take when you’re stuck in the process.

3. Start Making A Plan

Once you write down an idea for what success may look like for you, start brainstorming a ‘plan of action.’ 

If you get to work on your plan and realize that it just doesn’t excite you or invigorate you, then odds are good that you’ve gotten started with the wrong direction in mind, and that it’s time to try out a new idea. 

4. Get To Work And Start Making Progress

If you really want to figure out whether you’ve chosen the proper definition for success, just get to work. 

Take a look at your gameplan, and just get started. 

If you start working on it and realize that you just don’t care about it, then that’s a good sign that it’s time to pivot and change direction. 

And hopefully, the effort you’ve already put in will help to spur and inspire you toward a better direction for yourself.

5. Be Open To Changing And Adapting The Plan If It Just Doesn’t Feel Right

If you start working on a plan of success for your life, and it just doesn’t really feel right—and/or if it doesn’t feel exciting to you—don’t be afraid to make changes. 

Sometimes, making changes is scary and makes you feel like you’ll just waste all the time and effort you’ve already invested. 

But this isn’t true. 

The truth of the matter is that pivots must happen in life if you want to stay true to yourself.

The work you’ve already put in will still matter. 

It helped you to get to this point. 

So don’t be afraid to shift directions if you start to feel the creeping urge to do so.

6. Be Patient With Yourself

If you’ve been sitting at your table for an hour, trying to write down a success plan for yourself—and you just keep coming up blank—then it may be time to take a break. 

Do something fun. Get away from it for a little while. Or maybe even go to bed and try again tomorrow. 

Sometimes, you just have to be patient with yourself and sleep on it once or twice while you figure it out. 

Conclusion

Hopefully, this post has given you some information about how to define success for yourself—and hopefully, these tips will help you in your goal-setting journey. 

Of course, at the end of the day, this is just another part of the larger, overarching process of turning your dreams into goals, and writing those goals down to create a roadmap for success in your life.

This is how you begin your journey to success and crush it.

Need some help? Download my weekly goal-setting sheet, print out a few, and give it a try.

And don’t forget—you can also sign up for my email list to get a free copy of my Goal Setting Essentials Starter Kit. 

You’ve got this. I believe in you.

Now it’s time to get to work.

Best wishes…

Jay O’Donnell