“Success” is a weird thing, isn’t it? There is no universal definition of “success”, at least not in my opinion. The term and the meaning of success is subjective and lies in the eye of the beholder. People are oftentimes deemed to be successful, by materialistic items they own. A lot of money, a nice car, a nice watch, a nice house, he must be successful, right? I don’t agree. I think there is a lot more to the term of success, then just being able to buy nice things.
I’m 19 years old, a former athlete, that has played in the highest youth league in ice hockey, I finished the highest level in high school in Bavaria, Germany, and have founded and created multiple successful E-Commerce stores that have generated a good sum of money in the past. A lot of people would look at these accolades and determine me to be successful. But I don’t think that I’m that successful, because I’ve always wanted more and I haven’t achieved lots of things I’d like to.
So does it really matter, that other people perceive you to be successful and when? Not really. What really matters is how you perceive your own success. Only you know how far you’ve come, what you’ve sacrificed to get there and how far you still have to go. Although I mention that it shouldn’t really matter, how you’re perceived by others, a fear of mine, was to be perceived as a “failure” and I think that has been a deep motivation for me, for years now.
“Success” always seemed inevitable for me, even from the time I was 6 years of age, at least in my own mind. I wanted to become a professional athlete, that was my dream, but the idea and the possibility of the dream becoming a reality faded year by year, injury after injury. So I had to start moving into other areas and I discovered E-Commerce. Everything I want to become good at, I do. I’ll reach the position eventually.
Success isn’t defined by the amount of money you earn, it isn’t defined by the number of followers you have, it isn’t defined by the overly expensive “toys” you own and it also isn’t defined by the number of partners you’ve had in the past.
All these things mean nothing, if your family isn’t healthy, if you have no one to share these great things and memories with, if you’re unfulfilled or if you’re just plain miserable.
Happiness, wealth in healthy relationships, fulfilled dreams are in my opinion the key components of success. Corny I know.
I’m not close to being where I want to be, but I’m moving forward every day, my family is healthy, I have great friends and that makes me happy.
Being “successful” is something everything wants to be, but no one can clearly define “success”. Don’t let anyone define your success, define your own.
