What Is the Meaning of Success?

Today, I accomplished getting out of bed before my alarm, attending my German class, and completing a workout at the gym. All before lunchtime. It feels like I’m bragging, but that is what success feels like for me.

Each week, I create a list of to-do items to get done, and each time I cross out a completed task, I feel accomplished. I also tie it with being productive. Based on this, I would define success as productively accomplishing day-to-day tasks to reach long-term goals.

It has been my experience that when people try to define success, it’s always around their careers. It may be one of the reasons why “What do you do for a living?” is one of the first questions we ask others. I am guilty of asking this question many times.

From this perspective, what if instead of tying success with just careers, we focus on something that is more well-rounded?

Don’t get me wrong, I love working. I am working towards creating a successful freelance writing career. I also feel accomplished when I work. However, there are other areas where I feel that sense of accomplishment that isn’t just tied with career goals. Instead, it is tied towards working on my daily/monthly/yearly to-do items involving work, health, family, travel, and self-development, to name a few.

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” — Bob Dylan

The key to success is to follow through

Everyone wants to accomplish their goals. However, goals will never end because once we reach them, we will immediately create new ones. It’s how we grow. It also applies to all aspects of life, including work and health. The key to completing those goals is to follow through.

There are so many templates and articles about creating a plan, but many don’t focus on the key task of following through. There’s no point in spending hours without end to create a plan if it won’t be executed.

I remember the first time I wrote an article. I did it, I felt accomplished. However, I was afraid to submit it to a publication because it wasn’t ready. I didn’t follow through. If I don’t follow through with each set upon milestone to reach the final goal, then I won’t have success in the long term.

How to follow through

Something I struggled with is fear each time I embark on either a personal or professional goal. It may be fear of failure or fear of putting myself out there and coming up short.

Based on my experience, the best way to follow through is to do two things. The first is to embrace the fear. After all, fear is only present in the moment. Once you push through it, it’s gone. The second thing to do to follow through is to schedule the task. It is the reason I love my to-do lists.

I keep a bullet journal that I mainly use as a planner. I write all the tasks that I need to accomplish during the week. Some of the tasks for this week include going to the gym (four days), studying/attending German class, tackling four writing prompts, grocery shopping, Lightroom tutorial, and attending the local festival.

Notice that all tasks cover an aspect of work, health, family, travel, and self-development. There may be an emphasis on some areas more than others, but everything I need to do this week is there.

The next part is to break down each of these tasks into smaller milestones and assign a day and time to follow through for each one. By taking the general task, breaking it down, and scheduling it throughout the week helps me to follow through. It is the reason why I love to cross out the completed tasks once done because I know I will reach the long-term success I’m aiming to reach.

Am I able to complete all the tasks in a given week? Sometimes, yes. But other times, no. There are times when I need to sacrifice not completing a task because something outside of my control came up. It happens because that’s how life works, but I don’t get discouraged. It simply means I will need to work a little extra the following week to catch up or adapt the tasks somehow.

What is the meaning of success?

The meaning of success is simple for me. It is being able to do what I set out to do to reach long-term goals. I don’t focus on accomplishing these tasks overnight because I don’t want to rush the process.

There are some ups and downs that are much needed during the process because we learn from these. It helps me evolve and continue pushing forward and following through.

Note: The original story appeared on Medium.