Chad Schapiro: What is success?

What is success? Many times people have some incredible fancy descriptions of the definition of success. Webster has it as "a favorable result, the gaining of wealth, fame, or power." I heard a much better definition. SUCCESS IS BETTER THAN IT WAS! I love it! You are a success if you have gotten into better shape than you were, made more phone calls than you did last week, didn't get down on yourself as much as before, or any other step forward that is now better than you were in the past. The reason why I love this definition is because there is no end to the journey. We always are going to be striving for better than it was in all areas. There is someone in the world that would look at your area of concentration and think you are already a success, and there are others in this world that could look at things you feel are successful and they themselves would not settle for that within their own lives. In this sense we learn that we can and will always be striving forward but true success is living up to the better than it was idea as we grow.

How do we have success in a given area come to us sooner than later?:

1. FOLLOW- Not some of the ideas but all of them. It is so funny to watch us all pick certain ideas that we are comfortable with and neglect the ones that are hard for us. We then think we are right on track with following even though we are leaving out gaping holes in our journey to success. We need to really learn and master the given area. This means changing out of what we do now that makes us feel so comfortable. If we already did it all correctly then wouldn't we be a success now?

2. REMEMBER THE HARD TIMES- We have been through ups and downs already. When we remember the times when we were down but found our way it can only build our confidence when we encounter the inevitable difficulties of the future. We often forget that it was you who made it through the past. It was you who had the strength and character to dig your way out. Don't forget!

3. REMEMBER THE GOOD TIMES- Many of us have had great times in our life as well. Times when we succeeded and produced. We forget those times and like to get down and magnify things that make us feel weak. Hold on to that one little success story. Allow that to be who you are. Focus on it so it attracts more just like it to you. Pretty soon you'll have them overflowing.

4. GIVE THANKS- Spread the gratefulness around to anyone and everyone. Allow others to share in how good you feel. This again will only attract more into your life.

This past Superbowl in football was a good sign of someone who went through adversity and succeeded. Tony Dungy is the coach of the Superbowl Champions Indianapolis Colts. Last year his son committed suicide. He stayed focused and following the pattern of successful people in the past that had gone through tough personal times. Looking back at the tough times and the good times he had allowed him to handle the incredible loss he felt for his son. In the end he gave his faith the credit for helping him through and winning the championship only 1 year later.