A lot of time and effort is placed on being or looking successful. As if success had a look. The look of success and there are many shades. Some are just costumes. Others don’t look like much. All your focus and attention is on the goal, on the success. What you determine to be a success. However, if you factor in what Viktor Frankl said about success, it will change your life. More importantly, how you accomplish anything.
“Don’t aim for success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued, it must ensue.” - Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl survived the holocaust. In his book, A Man’s Search for Meaning, he outlines the atrocities faced by he and others in the camps. A must read for anyone!
Success is not something you chase. It becomes something that happens as a consequence of your actions. Success is a result of something you did. Like happiness, you cannot simply pursue it and find it. The intentional acts that we all perform each day is what allows happiness to be present.
Only you know what success looks like in your field, area of interest and hobby.
If you want to lose weight you cannot pursue that. You must create a series of changes and perform a series of behaviors that allows weight loss to happen. Don’t pursue but ensue. The same can be said with paying down credit card debt or student loans. Chasing down the balance is not helpful. However, what is helpful are the actions you perform with your money. Such as budgeting, reducing expenses and increasing your income, simultaneously.
Ryder Caroll in a podcast episode talked about not having goals. He explains, goals are like a light house, guiding you away from somethings and towards others. Have goals but don’t let that be what you focus on. Instead focus on what you see and learn along the way, as the goal gives light to your path. Success, works the same. Be it in marriage, in your career, side hustle or independently for you. Don’t focus on what success is or looks like. Oftentimes, success or the image of it, is just what would be nice to have/see. Do the work, walk the path and use the light to show you what is and isn’t the way.
The target simply moves when you have it in mind. A goal or the image of success changes when you start performing the actions required to get there. Maybe it will take you less time or more. Maybe it will cost you more. Maybe, you realized what you were pursuing is not actually what you want. That is why you should not aim for success. It will ensue with your actions.
Thought Provoking Questions : What does success look like for you? Are you pursuing it or are you allowing it to ensue?
Dan Roman is a Husband, Father, and writer that releases a daily blog. A quick read on sharing wisdom and asking though-provoking questions.
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