All The Moments
Tell me, is it success that’s important to you? What does success
even mean? What does it look like to be successful? Is it money? Possessions? Titles and labels? Is it to appear in a magazine or on TV?
At what point and after what achievement can you call yourself a success, and what does it take to retain that title?
Success, often defined by external markers, can become a limited yardstick that fails to encompass the richness of personal evolution.
Albert Einstein said:
"Strive not to be a success but rather to be of value."
Over the years, I have come to believe, through much trial and error, striving and falling short, pain and no glory, that growth is true success. Figuring out your values and sticking to them is true success. Finding that you need to change and submitting yourself to transformation is true success.
Not money. Not fame. Not obedience. Not being first. Not even completing a task and having everyone tell you how amazing you are.
Nothing beats the feeling of knowing that you have grown.
In our house, it’s almost nauseating how much we talk about having a growth or a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset needs to win to be accepted. A growth mindset looks for the silver lining, the wisdom, the learnings within every experience on the full spectrum of good and bad and uses it as forward momentum.
We must redefine success as an ongoing process of growth, an ever-unfolding journey rather than a fixed destination. The celebration of milestones becomes a celebration of the continuous expansion of the self, recognising that value lies not just in achievements but in the lessons learned along the way.
Shifting the focus from success to growth opens the door to living authentically, to crafting a narrative aligned with your values and aspirations.
E.E. Cummings said:
“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experiences that reveal the human spirit.”
That’s success: the revealing of your true nature, growing through all your evolutions, becoming who you are while you unlearn who you’ve been told to be. Anything you want to achieve, anything that you want to do in order to make a lasting impact on yourself and those you love can only come from that place of growth made possible by self-belief.
As you celebrate your journey, envision success not as a summit to conquer but as a spectrum to explore, embracing the valleys and peaks alike.
Reflection Point: Reflect on how your perspective on success has evolved over time. How might embracing a growth-oriented perspective enhance your approach to personal milestones?
Affirmation: I shift my perspective from success to growth. Each milestone is a testament to my evolving self, and the journey itself is the ultimate success.
Written by Liz Milani.