Success can appear in very different forms
Is success reaching a sporty goal, being able to effort the expensive car, having quality time with your friends or having your own family? Like in the cover photos above, success can look and feel very different.
Success is often defined as the ability to reach your goals in life, whatever those goals may be. In some ways, a better word for success might be attainment, accomplishment, or progress. The Cambridge dictionary defines success as followed:
- ”the achieving of desired results, or someone or something that achieves positive results” (Cambridge Dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/success (2023))
Success in life can not that easily be measured
Let’s assume success is having a house, a car, a partner, two kids and a dog. A pretty common widely spread perception of success.
At university we have learned, that measuring success can be done by key performance indicators. Can this business approach be applied for all success? Not really.
For example, if we achieve to buy a house, we have a partner and two kids. However we don’t have a dog. Following this logic that would mean our life only 60% successful…
This example illustrates how complex success is and especially measuring it on hard factors does not really make sense. In the end, it all comes down to your personal satisfaction in life. Knowing your goals however can help you with that. Bodo Schäfer (2001). Die Gesetze der Gewinner: Erfolg und ein erfülltes Leben.
Setting and knowing your goals helps you to become more successful
Stephen R. Covey (1989). Die 7 Wege zur Effektivität: Prinzipien für persönlichen und beruflichen Erfolg.
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR GOALS VIA MEDITATION
The following meditation is in German and was recorded during a presentation at the Technical University Munich. However, find an audio script for the meditation in Englisch below. It will guide you towards your 90 year old self and will change the point of perspective on what you perceive as success.
MEDITATION ENGLISCH
- Please close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Inhale – Exhale - Relax. Imagine now you are sitting on a park bench. It is a wonderful day. From to tip of your head down to your toes you feel satisfied. You feel calm. You feel happy. But you notice something is different. You look down to your hands and they seem older. You notice that it is not you that is sitting on the park bench. It is your 90-year-old self. However, you know and deeply feel that you had a great life.
- You notice, this feeling of satisfaction, of calmness, of joy has never been so intense. But why? How did your life look like? Which job did you have? How did you live? Who has alongside with you? Which hobbies did you have? Where did you live? What have you achieved. Let all the pictures come to your mind that made you this satisfied. All the pictures that make your 90-year-old that happy. Let some more pictures stream through your head while you continue feeling this satisfaction.
- Now thank your 90-year-old self for visiting. Deeply inhale and exhale and slowly come back to the present. If you are ready, open your eyes. And if you want you can write down some things that have come to your mind on this small journey.
Idea for meditation Stephen R. Covey (1989). Die 7 Wege zur Effektivität: Prinzipien für persönlichen und beruflichen Erfolg. However, own interpretation and implementation by Christina Amon (2023).
What life is really about…?
sources: cover images:
License Free picture from Pexels. (May 2023).
https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-ripping-finish-line-strap-2524739/
License Free picture from Pexels. (May 2023).
https://www.pexels.com/photo/orange-lamborghini-gallardo-on-park-39501/
License Free picture from Pexels. (May 2023).
https://www.pexels.com/photo/faceless-people-toasting-with-glasses-at-dinner-5638748/
License Free picture from Pexels. (May 2023).
https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-kid-sitting-on-her-mother-s-lap-3819539/
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