Are you a success? What does that even mean? Is there a measure by which anyone can be judged to be a success? I don’t think so.

We are all successful (or at least most of us) in one way or another. We might be successful in bringing up our families, in our work, or we might consider that we have been successful in business. There is no bar that you must reach to be a success. It is a subjective judgement that will vary from person to person and even over time. It is not a fixed point that we can all agree on. You might be a success at one thing but a miserable failure at another.

We think that we have been successful in developing our business, but we have failed to grow it more than we have. Should we be celebrating our achievements or crying over missed opportunities? I suppose it’s all about your outlook on life. I have met people who are happy and content, have brought up well-balanced families and are really nice people. Yet they don’t have a lot of money and financially could be said to be not very successful. But at another level, they have been incredibly successful. I have also met people who have been financially very successful but have been divorced, at least once, are not close to their children and generally seem quite sad. They have money, but that’s about it.

I suppose the trick is to find that sweet spot in your life where you progress towards your own personal goals without sacrificing your own humanity.

One quote about success that I have always liked is from Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours,”

To me, this means that you are successful if you pursue your own personal worthy goals, and it is not a matter of whether you achieve them or not. It is in the trying and also in having the right “dreams” or goals to chase.

So, the journey, or the process of striving towards a goal, is more fulfilling and valuable than actually reaching the destination or achieving the goal itself. What is important is the experiences, growth, and lessons learned along the way, rather than solely focusing on the final outcome. Value and success come from your progress along the road towards your goals, not in arriving at the end of your journey.

Success can take many forms. You are constantly making decisions about what you will or will not do on your journey. I have always said that work life balance is not a process; it is a result. It is the result of decisions you make throughout your life. My view has always been that everything has a price. If you want a highly successful business, you probably need to sacrifice time with family and friends. If you want to spend time with your family, this is the time that you cannot devote to the business. You either have decided or will need to decide what you want at the end of the day and what price you are willing to pay to get it.

I made my choices, some good, some bad, just like everyone else. At the end of the day, our lives now are the result of all the decisions you have made over the years, just like everybody else. So, don’t complain. It’s all our own fault, and there is nothing we can do to change the past.

But, while you cannot change what has gone before, today is a new day, and you can choose how your story will end. You are still making decisions which will influence everything to come in your life.

It’s quite a responsibility! Don’t let it keep you awake at night.

Alan E Long

The Long Partnership

07770 738770