Know The First Step To Become Successful

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than  your fear of failure."

- Bill Cosby

A few years ago I made a goal for myself. My goal was to make it a habit to read one book every month. Eventually, some of the books turned into audiobooks, but I still stayed true to my goal even to this day. In the early months of my goal, I read books about successful people and tried to figure out how they became successful so that I can follow their footsteps. Book after book, I learned about different successful people and their “secrets” to success.

As I read more and more books, I realized something I didn't realize early in my career. The books I read were great, but there was one huge problem I encountered. I felt as though I followed a certain trend after reading each book. Each book pumped me up to do something the book said I should do but I was going nowhere. Yes, the books helped me with my career but they didn't necessarily help me solve my huge problem.

The Definition of Success

What was my huge problem? I realized that I never defined the word success. I didn't know what success meant to me. Before I continued on my path to nowhere, I decided to sit down and think about what success really meant in my life. What was it that I was striving for?

People have a different definition of success. Some people believe money is everything and how much money they make defines their success. Other folks look for happiness. In fact, I've met a lot of people who have said that they define success as how happy they are. Many people might define success as living your ultimate lifestyle. In other words, you can pretty much do whatever the heck you want. I can go on and on about the different ways success is defined but my goal at the time was not to follow someone else’s definition. My goal was to come up with my own.

How Do You Define Success?

As I continued to read and discover what success meant to me, I realized that defining success was the first step to becoming successful. How would I become successful if I never knew what success was? I also realized that this whole time I was defining success the way a book defined it but never the way I wanted to define it.

If you've never thought about your own definition of success, maybe it’s time to start now. How would you define success? Is it providing for a family or achieving a dream? Is it more spiritual than tangible? It might take you days or even years to define it, but, as I discovered, it is a step closer to getting to your final destination. 

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.