What is Success and How Do We Achieve It?

To be clear about what success is must be the first step to achieving success.

So far, the best definition I have come across is: "Success is the completion of anything intended." In other words success is finishing what you planned to do.

Even robbing a bank is a kind of success if that is what you wished to do. However, you probably did not intend to end up in prison!

The above definition of success shines a light on failure and success. Make a plan and follow it and you will have succeeded. Make a plan and do not follow it and you will have failed.

This gives a yard stick for judging every day of our lives. We can say at the end of the day "I have failed" or "I have succeeded."

This may seem very obvious but it is amazing that only about 85% of the human race end up doing what they intended.

I asked several people what they thought success was. One person said that "Success is making loads of money." Another said that success is "Achieving your goals". Some one else said that success is "Fulfilling your potential". An interesting answer was that success is "Making others jealous".

Brian Tracy agrees with the connection between success and goals. He has said "Success is goals, and all else is commentary." Tracy believes that people with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them.

Stuart Goldsmith in "The Midas Method" has an important section on how to set goals so that they are achieved using the full power of the subconscious mind.

Maria Nemeth gives this definition of success: "Doing what you said you would do, with ease".

"Doing what you said you would do" is currently not achieved by the majority of the human race especially politicians! Doing it with ease is achieved by even fewer and requires making the most of the subconscious mind.

Jim Rohn argues that success is just a few simple disciplines practised daily.

The power of daily discipline is HUGE. Because the discipline is practised daily the effect is cumulative. The good practice is carried out 365 times a year with, perhaps, a few lapses.

It cannot fail to have tremendous influence. Once the discipline becomes a daily habit, it can be forgotten about until the rewards start coming in.

The writer who writes every day has written well over 300 pages by the end of the year. If he or she does not write every day they lose momentum and inspiration. If they keep up the writing (even just a few words a day) a magnet for relevant thoughts develops.

Recently a Liverpool student of American media studies applied for 600 jobs and received only one interview which he failed. He decided to write a novel. He determined to complete ten pages a day. He worked in the evenings at a dead end job to make money and then wrote until about 5 in the morning at his novel which has now become famous. It also looks like becoming a Hollywood blockbuster film.

He points out that if you write only one page a day for 100 days you can write a screen play. He wrote his novel by studying the structure of two other novels and noticing how they were structured and wrote his screenplay after studying video of films and noticing how long each scene lasted before there was a change.

I can't remember his name or the name of his book as I just happened to hear part of his interview on television.

The practice of daily disciplines alone can change our lives totally. Another benefit of daily disciplines is that they quickly create habits and habits create character.

A great quote by Jim Ryun, the American Athlete, is as follows

"motivation is what gets you started.Habit is what keeps you going"

Another brilliant quote is:

"Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value."

Albert Einstein

The next quote says more or less the same thing:

"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." Henry David Thoreau

Many would argue that success is not about making money but about developing oneself into a person who is valuable to others.

However, this quite often will lead to making money because people will pay for value. Any one who is very good at their job can usually command whatever pay they wish.

Adam Hollioake is one of the most successful English county cricket captains. He realised what is import