Today’s post is from Faizal Nisar. Faizal, inspires others through his work on the subject of self-improvement. His free book, The Instant Success Guide, will change how you approach success. If you enjoy his article, why not subscribe to his RSS feed?
Success is a fascinating topic. The desire to be successful drives us to be tenacious, creative, and strong-minded.
What’s more interesting is the definition of success. It can have different meanings. Success can mean being financially independent for one person, while success can also mean being able to put dinner on the table for just one night, for someone else.
Think about what success means to you. Now imagine achieving that and becoming successful this instant. What happens years down the road? Usually, once you get something you really want, the exciting thankful feeling tends to fade away. It’s like getting a new car or a gift you’ve been hoping for. You’re really happy at first until you get used to it and it becomes normal. You start feeling empty and wanting something else. Something more!
If we want to truly experience everlasting success, first we must understand three things:
- Success is in the mind and heart
- Success comes from balance
- Success lasts through growth
Success is in the mind and heart
In my book, Instant Success Guide, I talk about success being only a matter of mindset. We set rules in our mind that if we accomplish something, then we’ll give ourselves permission to feel the emotions related to success. Otherwise, we don’t consider ourselves successful.
Once we eliminate these rules, we start feeling successful immediately! Because it’s not what we have on the outside, but rather the thoughts and feelings we have on the inside that makes us successful.
If you want a million dollars for instance, don’t wait until you have the million dollars to feel good. Instead, feel good every time you’re one step closer to your goal. Feel good when you find a penny on the ground. Feel good when you saved money because someone offered to buy your lunch. Feel good now and feel good every day. Enjoy the process of becoming a millionaire.
Success comes from balance
True success means being successful in all areas of your life. For example, being a highly recognized CEO, but having a failing marriage is NOT successful. You must be able to look at every area of your life and gain satisfaction from it. Success is achieved through proper balance of time, money, and love.
Make goals in every area of your life and come up with an action plan. Now choose to feel good every time you take action towards your goal. Every time you spend time with the kids or every time you take a jog in the park. Practice the positive emotions that can make you successful now. Enough practice will make the feeling of success last throughout your lifetime.
Success lasts through growth
Always push for more. More ambition. More love. More money…always keep growing. Growth is part of human nature. Once you’re standing still, life becomes dull and boring. There’s no excitement without the pursuit of growth.
We went to the moon, but now we’re planning to go to mars. We built houses, and now we’re able to build skyscrapers higher than ever imagined. See how the world grows? You need to grow with it.
Enjoy the journey to accomplishing your goals. Once you do, set new ones and start the process over. That’s everlasting success. Being able to feel successful no matter where you are in life. Just remember, whatever you have right now that you’re not thankful for, someone else who’s digging through garbage for food and clothes everyday would consider themselves successful if they were in your shoes.
Image via Simon Deutsch on Flickr
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
hello faizal man!!,
how are you? quite a while. thanks for sharing this and for pointing out the importance of pushing for more with relation to personal growth and success.
@kim
how are you?
hope things are taking shape. i’m yet to publish my complete article on greatest fears but it will be done.
take care of yourself and enjoy the rest of the day
AYO´s last [type] ..40 Ways To Feel Good About Yourself
Hi Ayo,
I’m always happy to have you visit, I know you keep a busy schedule. I’m here to support you and you’ll publish when the time is right
Enjoy some rest and relaxation this weekend!
Yes Faizal, real success comes when we continually create grander and grander versions of ourselves. The whole point of setting goals is in not to achieve the goal but rather to experience creating ourselves anew. It’s wise to not, “goal to” but rather “goal through”… that is, on to the next epoch of our personal evolution.
Hi Rob,
I’ve heard of ‘enjoying the journey,’ then you manage to contribute a unique perspective by adding, ‘experience creating ourselves anew.’ I like that re-frame. It creates a sense of positive change, growth, and accomplishment. I appreciate your wisdom.
Nice article Faizar. I like how you outlined success in three categories. My favorite one is probably the one where you talk about success that lasts through growth. I don’t think success ever ends; it’s a continuation of what we are already doing. As long as we are learning from our journey to getting to wherever it is that we are going, then we will always get better and better at being ourselves and improving our skills.
Great point Hulbert — it’s important to be conscious and aware of the lessons along our journey. Life will bring us the same lessons over and over until we learn them. Acknowledging, learning, and accepting these lessons take us to the next plateau. I appreciate having you here
Hello Kim and Faizal,
This post is filled with a lot of passion and awesome energy! I have found the moment we truly begin to define what success means and feels like for ourselves, than we are at that place where we can build towards it with inspired action, in alignment with who we know ourselves to truly be! Excellent post.
Hi Baker,
Defining success definitely contributes to the flow you’ve been experiencing and writing about. I’m watching your inspired action as it adds to your growth and success
Thank you for stopping by!
Faizal,
Wow! I could literally feel the energy and enthusiasm you have for this topic.
What better way to experience success than to begin to feel successful in the mind and heart first. I agree that we need to get rid of the rules that we’ve put in place that say we’re not a success until we have this or that. Achieving balance is also important as you point out. What good is it to be the king of the world if you come home to an empty house?
Thank you for this inspirational post.
Angela Artemis´s last [type] ..Is There a Difference Between Intuition, Psychism and Mediumship?
Hi Angela,
Being king isn’t fun without having someone to share your kingdom. Well, at least not in the long run
Life has its ways of reminding us to balance and stay in check.
I appreciate you stopping by!
My definition of success has changed a lot from what it was when I was young. Then it was more about external things. Now it is about being a certain way in the world. And I’ve learned that what you wrote about is true . . . success is a mindset!
Jean Sarauer´s last [type] ..Confessions of a Backsliding Blogger
‘If I knew then what I know now…’ Thankfully, our definitions change throughout the years and we can simplify things as we go. Thank you for sharing your experience Jean
Hi Kim and Faizal,
I would definitely agree that we each have our own definitions of success. You can’t allow a stranger’s definition of success to overshadow your own definition of what kind of person you want to be in life. Also, you’ve made a great point about how our definition of success will change over time. When I was younger, I thought being successful was having lots of money and the corner office. Now, you couldn’t pay me enough to do that job. I find other avenues to be a lot more meaningful and therefore successful in my eyes.
Karen
Karen´s last [type] ..Life Is Short, But Not That Short
Hi Karen,
We come from a similar school of thought — the one that included a white picket fence
There’s freedom and empowerment in defining and choosing what success means within.
Thank you for your insights and for stopping by!
I agree, that we need to grow and continue to stretch ourselves. But, I like that you’ve also pointed out to make the most of the current moment. We have so much success right now, so much to be thankful for. It’s important to recognise the successes of the present moment, because that puts what we’re striving for into perspective. Thanks for a lovely post.
Claire – Gratitude Connection´s last [type] ..Today I’m grateful for…
Hi Claire,
Your comment reminded me of this quote, “When you really take a good look at your life, Success is all you’ve ever had.”
“Today, I’m grateful for…” your visit
Have a great weekend ahead!
I honestly have to say that this is one of the best blog posts I’ve ever read, ever. Not that any others I’ve read are not good but I love your style of writing and I love how you go in detail about achieving success and keeping it.
I think so many people don’t understand that about things… It’s not JUST getting it but keeping it.
Seriously, wonderful words here and completely worth a re-tweet.
Eric´s last [type] ..Why Consider Persons With Disabilities When Making Your Blog – Pop Post
Thank you for the kind comment and RT Eric! It’s great that you thoroughly enjoyed Faizal’s post. I’m happy to have him here
You and yours take care — it was a joy meeting them!
Hi Faizal Nisar & Kim, Truly enjoyed this post especially with the success is in the mind and heart. We attract success by the person we become. Thanks for breaking it down in such a simple philosophy. I can also appreciate success last through growth. Success is also how we accept change and change is all about growth.
Thank you so much for this wonderful post! I look forward to reading more
Therese Miu´s last [type] ..10 Tips for a better Healthy Lifestyle- Honor & Love Your Body
Thanks for stopping by Therese. You’ve definitely been a shining example of success in action. Keep doing great work!
Hi Kim
I thought that the quote was “Success is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.” but I was wrong. The quote is “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”
So what about success?
I rather like your comment “success being only a matter of mindset” – trouble is most of us only think of the highest achievements as being success. Gold medals and the like.
Not so, we each have lots of small successes every day of our lives.
We should concentrate on those small successes and forget about the big ones.
Keith Davis´s last [type] ..A splash of colour
Hi Keith,
Great point. Each day carries many small successes. And, we need to define what it means to us — big and small.
I appreciate the quote and having you stop by
This is a really valuable post. Success is truly a subjective idea, and we must learn what success is to us before we will ever be close to happiness and contentment. I used to think that wealth held the key to success, and though I still strive toward and find wealth to be a valuable tool, I now realize it’s just this, a tool. If we don’t maintain growth and focus on the things we really desire and believe in, wealth with not provide much benefit.
Welcome Joe!
Thank you for sharing your experience. It’s often not the dollar that brings us fulfillment, but what the dollar represents. It’s been said, being rich is having a lot of money, being wealthy is having a lot of time. This time can be spent with loved ones, in service to others, etc. You make a good point to focus on what we desire and believe in.
Appreciate you stopping by!
Hi Kim, I felt that many of us had placed too much focus at the end product ~ success; rather than focusing on the process towards success. I think the process of getting success is much more important than the end product of success itself.
In my opinion, if you take challenges positively and live through the tough process of achieving success with a right attitude, you’ll ultimately find success!
BBQ´s last [type] ..Halal Catering
Hi John,
Great link! Thank you for stopping by to remind us it’s all about the journey
Hope to have you visit again soon!
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