“The journey is what brings us happiness, not the destination.”
― Dan Millman
Define Your Interpretation of Success
For most of my life, I defined success based on society’s expectations. Some examples of my former interpretation of success included the following:
- The amount of money in my bank account
- The type of car I drove
- The size of my house
- The name brand of my clothes
- The attractiveness of my woman
Despite having and chasing what everyone else told me I needed, I still felt empty and unfulfilled. Because of the deep sense of unhappiness, I went on a long self-discovery journey to identify what’s truly important to me.
In the process, I reinvented my definition of success.
To me, success is not based on external sources such as the accumulation of money, acquiring luxurious and fancy goods, or even having a beautiful woman in my life, although these are all great to have.
My indication of success is simply committing to my ultimate vision.
It’s about being on the journey and enjoying the process.
The only thing that truly matters is this:
I am courageously taking appropriate actions that are aligned with my core values to experience growth and become a better man.
As long as I continue to do that, I’ll always be successful. All the achievements are just byproducts of becoming an improved version of myself. Although the rewards are beneficial, they are mere bonuses on top of the person I have become.
It’s on the journey which I experience personal advancement, fulfillment, and happiness. All the external gains are only icing on the beautiful cake that is my life and the growth I have developed.
Embrace the Warrior Spirit
Even though life is inevitably challenging, you can overcome your biggest obstacles by having composure. You can release your inner warrior spirit by continuing to do the necessary work despite hardships and setbacks.
You can choose to remain calm in the face of adversity.
Internalizing that life’s problems are designed to help you evolve into a more powerful version of yourself, you embrace your defeats and failures. As a result, you learn from your past mistakes to become stronger, wiser, and more resilient to conquer future difficulties.
Achieving your vision is inevitable because of your resolute attitude and determination regardless of not knowing when and how your success will manifest.
This can only happen when you:
- Fully trust and believe in yourself.
- Continue to take appropriate action toward your goals without attachments to any particular outcome.
Here and Now
In his book, The Way Of The Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives, Dan Millman highlights two important points:
- The best place you can be is right here.
- The most precious moment is right now.
There are times even though we are doing everything correctly, life still doesn’t happen exactly the way we want it to. That’s one of the beauties of life. It’s unpredictable, which makes it challenging and worthwhile.
If we know precisely what will happen in our lives and how each event will unfold, life becomes foreseeable. It would not be fun because it would lack excitement and uncertainty. It’s like watching a movie knowing every scene.
Without knowing what will absolutely happen, we can further appreciate what our life will play out. And even in the midst of obstacles, you may find it difficult to be thankful for them. You may wish you can advance into the future and skip those tribulations.
However, it is in those tough times that your strong character is built. Without those grueling times, you wouldn’t become the courageous and composed man you want to be.
Therefore, those hardships are quintessential for your growth development. As a result, you’ll learn to be grateful for overcoming those adversities.
To help you stay grounded in the current situation whenever you start to doubt your life circumstances, ask yourself:
“What is the place I must be in?
The answer is always “Here!”
As for time, the only moment you can focus on is right now. That is the only thing we have.
Given that gift, we can put all of our attention on the present moment.
No matter how much we may want to change the past, we cannot. However, we can learn to accept those events and gain insights from them.
For instance, if you experienced a serious breakup in the past, regardless of how badly you want to go back in time and alter the course of your relationship outcome, it cannot be done. However, you can give your previous incident an empowering meaning to motivate you from letting that happen again.
If you want to change your future past, create your best present moment because it will soon become your past.
And as for the future, you can only plan and hope to create beneficial scenarios. The only way you can achieve that is to fully devote yourself to the current task at hand.
For example, if you’re driving to work, focus all of your concentration on maneuvering your vehicle. Don’t waste your energy thinking about the activities you must do once you arrive at the office.
To help you stay present whenever you catch yourself dwelling in the past or fantasizing about the future, ask yourself:
“What time is it?”
The answer is always “Now!”
Closing Thoughts
Everyone’s definition of success is different.
How do you define it?
Take a moment and think about it. Clearly write it down on a piece of paper. Ask yourself:
- “Is this truly my definition of success?
- “If so, am I living it?”
- “If not, how can I start experiencing true success?”
Unless you establish your own definition of success, you won’t be internally successful because you’re not achieving it according to your own interpretation.
Only you can define it for yourself.
After you have done so, fully go after it with your utmost intensity and live it out.
I am on a mission to help 1,000,000 people, but I cannot do that without your help. Please share this article with anyone who you may think will find it valuable and helpful.
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