12 Tips for Nurturing Your Personal Definition of Success

There’s a lot of pressure to conform to society’s definition of success.

Right from school, you hear that there is pretty much one path. A good job, a one-way upwards career trajectory, a family, a big house, lots of money. 🏡💰👨‍👩‍👦‍👦

But your personal definition of success is often left behind or completely ignored. The same can go with inner peace, purpose, and self-satisfaction. But you don’t have to step too far outside your regular life to allow space for greater contentment, and freedom from the anxieties and pressures of modern life.

I like this Earl Nightingale quote about success...it has shaped me greatly.

Here are 12 key things you can do right now to nurture your personal definition of success while achieving greater contentment with your life. 

1. Let go of past hurts and sufferings, acknowledging what you have learned along the way.
   
   Action step: Journal the letting go and write out the learnings.
   
   
2. Believe in your heart that you deserve love and good things in your life and that you wish these for the other people in your life.
   
   Action step: Release the relationships that don’t help you love yourself.
   
   
3. Act kindly in your interactions with other people, whether it’s friends, family, colleagues, or the person you walk past in the street. People will remember how you treated them long after they have forgotten your words.
   
   Action Step: Start with the person right down the hall, right now!
   
   
4. Be kind to yourself and acknowledge that you mostly do the best you can. And when you make a mistake, you learn from it and do better.
   
   Action Step: Ask for forgiveness where necessary
   
   
5. Acknowledge that you have control only over your actions and reactions. You can’t control other people, but you can control how you respond to them.
   
   Action Step: Pray and/or meditate about who/what you are trying to control. Let it go through deep breathing exercises.
   
   
6. Own your past mistakes but do not let them define you.
   
   Action Step: Change your perspective by choosing to build on the mountain of mistakes, not be buried beneath them.
   
   
7. Be at peace with change and accept that it is part of the ebb and flow of life.
   
   Action Step: Be thankful for the trial and challenge and consider it pure joy to grow and go in your purpose.
   
   
8. Set goals to achieve what you want out of life but be flexible and prepared to adapt to changing circumstances.
   
   Action Step: Remove yourself from the “all or nothing” mindset. Goals may not always come to pass in your timeframe.
   
   
9. Don’t compare your life to others, especially as they present themselves on social media. People always display their best sides and rarely acknowledge weakness or when things are going badly.
   
   Action Step: Transparent and authentic never goes out of style when used in moderation. Drop the fake, put up the real!
   
   
10. Choose to be compassionate. Most people are trying to do their best most of the time.
    
    Action Step: Seek to understand and ask questions instead of making sweeping statements and judgments. 
    
    
11. Be grateful for where you are, and what you have right now. Don’t get caught up in a dissatisfaction loop where the other guy’s life looks better. Chances are you are already living an abundant life.
    
    Action Step: Create a gratitude jar or journal and place what you are grateful for within it. Review once a quarter or as needed to calibrate!
    
    
12. Learn to relax and allow things to be, rather than try to second guess all the time.
    
    Action Step: This is the time when I get my journal to celebrate what I have been able to accomplish. Ask God for his help to bring you to peace and relaxation.

Share your personal definition of success with me by sending me an email at [email protected].

Go Get Em!