How Do You Know How Successful You Are? Most people define success only by what they have. For them, owning a good house, a good car and living comfortably means being successful.
Material gain is important, of course, because below a certain income is misery. Not having enough money to feed oneself means that one is groveling. It is not possible for a person living in poor conditions to talk about success or happiness. But making money is not the only measure of success. Although having a high income provides a comfortable life, there are more valuable and important things in life.
The author who best describes how successful one is in life and how to measure it is Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School. According to Christensen, there are 9 steps to living a successful life and measuring it:
1- The first step is to realize what motivates you in life.
For example, a person who enjoys exploring new places and getting to know new people – just because he or she has a higher income – will be very dissatisfied if he or she is stuck in a desk job. Therefore, finding one’s passion is more important than finding a job. First and foremost, a person needs to find out what motivates him or her.
2- Secondly, one needs to set a goal for oneself and move towards that goal. In order to be successful, one must stick to the goal and the path (strategy) that will lead to that goal, despite the difficulties and obstacles that come one’s way. Because success cannot be achieved without perseverance.
But there are times when the house does not fit the bill. Sometimes life throws up such obstacles that it is impossible to overcome them. In such a situation, insisting on the same goal and the same strategy is a waste of resources. As Seneca said, “We may not be able to determine the direction of the wind, but we can adjust our sails according to the wind and change the direction of our ship.”
Therefore, every person should try new paths when necessary. When circumstances change dramatically or when valuable opportunities arise, each person can set new goals and new paths to achieve them.
As contradictory as it may seem, to be successful you need to be an idealist who is determined and patient on the one hand, and a realist who accepts life as it is on the other.
3- The third thing that Christensen suggests we pay attention to is managing the resources we have effectively.
Human resources are not only monetary resources. People have resources such as health, time, skills, knowledge, experience, friends and social relationships.
Most people spend days or even years wasting time, their most important resource. In order to achieve the goals one has set for oneself, one must effectively mobilize not only one’s time, but all one’s resources. Only in this way can he or she have a chance of reaching the goal.
4- The fourth is the time one spends with one’s family and friends. A person is happy to the extent that he spends enough time with his loved ones and spends a full time with them. Most people neglect their loved ones as they strive to make a place for themselves in life, to reach a goal.
With today’s mind, I know that the thing that brings the most happiness to people is the time they spend with their family and friends. Neglecting one’s loved ones in pursuit of the goal of being successful means missing out on life.
5- Fifth, to develop a sense of empathy. In both private and business relationships, one should always put oneself in the other person’s shoes.
If a person can understand the perspectives of the people they are in a relationship with and see life through their eyes, it opens the doors to being both very successful and very happy.
6- The sixth is to raise one’s children properly. I think the most important responsibility in life is to educate one’s children, if one has any. Every parent has to ensure the physical and mental development of their children to the extent of their means, and at the same time support their spiritual maturation.
Raising children who can stand on their own feet, solve their own problems and develop themselves is one of the most important criteria for success in life.
7- In order to be successful, one must both have certain values and act in accordance with these values.
The abstract concept we call “values” is actually the compass behind our daily decisions. For example, when faced with the dilemma of “making money or hiding the truth”, a person who values honesty would prefer to tell the truth. A person who cares about making money will do the opposite.
Determining what one’s values are is the starting point. But it is not enough just to identify one’s values. The main thing is to show determination to implement the values one embraces without compromise.
Acting in accordance with one’s values, which one chooses as a compass, makes one a person who appears as he/she is and is what he/she appears to be, as Mevlana says. Reaching this level is one of the most important measures of success in life.
8- According to Christensen, a very important aspect of managing our lives is humility. Most people walk around with an inflated ego without realizing it. Not only does an inflated ego cause people to admire themselves or exaggerate their accomplishments, but even worse, it causes them to undervalue and underestimate others.
Being humble is a sign of self-confidence. Moreover, being humble means accepting that one does not know everything and opens the door to learning new things. People with high self-confidence are open to learning no matter what age or position they are in. People with low self-confidence, on the other hand, miss the opportunity to learn and develop because they are worried about being superior to others.
9- In the end, the true measure of human success is not how far one gets, but how much benefit one brings to others.
According to Christensen, the measure of a person’s success is not the money they make or the fame they achieve, but the positive contribution they make to the lives of others.
Charles Handy said, “A tombstone showing how many millions of dollars a man in the ground has earned does not impress any passer-by. What matters is what he did with those millions.” he says.
It is of no value for a person to make a lot of money or be very famous if they are not making a positive contribution to their family, to the people they love, to a worthy cause or to people in need.
True wealth is the positive difference one makes in the lives of others.
