Have you ever felt like you’re wasting your life? I know I have.
A few months ago, I posted a quote on Facebook that said:
Define Success on Your own Terms. Build a Life that You’re Proud to Live
-Ann Sweeny
You guys seemed to really like that quote and it got some interesting comments. So let’s talk about it.
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In this post, I just want to elaborate a little bit and share 2 lessons I’ve learned in the process of attempting to actually live out this quote. (FYI: I’m not “successful” yet. I’m very much still in the process).
What Success Means to Me
For me, success is that intersection between making a difference and making a living. So basically, I’m not going to feel very successful if I am making a difference but I can’t pay my bills.
At the same time, I’m not going to feel very successful if I have all the nice things in the world but I’m not making a difference for somebody else.
In the process of building a life around this idea of making a difference and making a living, I’ve learned 2 really cool lessons that I want to share with you today.
And instead of just telling you what the lessons are, I really want to share with you, how I learned these lessons.
The first lesson I learned from a Friend
I was hanging out with her and she was telling me that I don’t need to be concerned about boys or marriage because I’m young. She said that I’m so young that I don’t even need to worry about dating or being in a relationship.
Basically, my only priority in life right now should be to have fun and live it up.
Here’s the thing.
I didn’t really ask for any of this advice. Since I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t really think too much about what she said until 5 minutes later when she asked me how old I was.
Allow me to get this straight. She just told me that I was so young that boys were irrelevant….but she had no idea how old I was?
That experience just really reinforced for me that nobody knows me the way I know myself. Therefore, nobody can make my decisions for me. And even though people don’t know me the way I know myself, they’re still going to offer their advice.
They’re still going to try to tell me what to do…and that’s okay.
So Lesson #1: Make Your own Decisions.
The Second Lesson is One That’s a Little Bit Dark
Even though this lesson is dark, it’s something that has really helped me out and I’d be doing you a disservice if I never mentioned it to you.
I was driving home from a meeting a few months ago when I drove past a cemetery. I could have just kept going, but for some weird reason, I turned around and I drove into the cemetery.
I didn’t stay very long because I didn’t want people to think i was being weird but while I was there, something clicked in my brain. Something changed for me mentally.
Going to that cemetery made me realize that I’m not as important as I think I am sometimes. My work is not as important as I think it is sometimes. My accomplishments and failures are not as big a deal as I think they are sometimes.
I guess I just realized that when we’re alive, we have this tendency to think that the world revolves around us.
Then we’re here for 60?, 70? maybe 80 years? if we’re lucky. During that time, we’re constantly striving, and trying, and wanting, and demanding things.
Then all of a sudden, POOF we’re gone and some stranger from Nigeria is walking on our tombstones.
So Lesson #2: It’s not even that serious.
All that being said,
How Likely Are You to be Successful? Take the quiz here
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How Likely Are You to be Successful? Take the quiz here
