A few months ago, Fast Company magazine released their “Productivity Issue.” The cover story for this particular installment consisted of ten interviews with ten highly successful businessmen and women focussing on how they got to where they are today. The subjects ranged from CEOs to underground DJs to network TV hosts. These are all highly rich, successful people who are living their dreams.
As I read through, I expected to find many unifying traits between the ten interviews. I expected to hear that all successful people write down their goals, or eat healthy, or get at least 8 hours of sleep every night while still getting up before 6:00am to do hot yoga. I was surprised to find that none of this was true. Some folks worked this way while other folks worked in a slightly different way, and even some worked in the exact opposite way. Beyond these interviews, I have read countless books and magazine articles about the world’s most successful people to try and glean what I can from them. What I’ve found is that all successful people have dramatically different tactics, strategies, and experiences that have lead them to where they are today. It seems that there is no unifying characteristic shared by all successful people, except one…you ready for this?
The one common denominator that connects all rich, successful people who live their dreams is that they have created their own specific definitions for what it means to be a rich, successful person who is living their dreams.
Terms like rich, success, happy, fulfillment, these are highly subjective and personal terms. Some folks hate the word rich because they associate it with greed and the desire for abusive power. Others long to be rich because they define it as living life on their own terms, having strong relationships, or storing up treasures in heaven.
The reason that most or us will never be “rich” or “successful” is because we will either fail to define these terms for ourselves, or we will live by someone else’s definition that they have set for their life. This is a problem. You can’t achieve someone else’s dream or someone else’s success. These things are way too personal. The truth is, anyone can be rich, anyone can be successful, anyone can live their dreams. In order to do it though, we have to be brave enough to cast off all other definitions of what this kind of life is supposed to look like and begin defining and pursuing it for ourselves.
Bottom line, the journey towards a rich, successful life of your dreams starts when you define exactly what that life will look like for you personally.
As I read through, I expected to find many unifying traits between the ten interviews. I expected to hear that all successful people write down their goals, or eat healthy, or get at least 8 hours of sleep every night while still getting up before 6:00am to do hot yoga. I was surprised to find that none of this was true. Some folks worked this way while other folks worked in a slightly different way, and even some worked in the exact opposite way. Beyond these interviews, I have read countless books and magazine articles about the world’s most successful people to try and glean what I can from them. What I’ve found is that all successful people have dramatically different tactics, strategies, and experiences that have lead them to where they are today. It seems that there is no unifying characteristic shared by all successful people, except one…you ready for this?
The one common denominator that connects all rich, successful people who live their dreams is that they have created their own specific definitions for what it means to be a rich, successful person who is living their dreams.
Terms like rich, success, happy, fulfillment, these are highly subjective and personal terms. Some folks hate the word rich because they associate it with greed and the desire for abusive power. Others long to be rich because they define it as living life on their own terms, having strong relationships, or storing up treasures in heaven.
The reason that most or us will never be “rich” or “successful” is because we will either fail to define these terms for ourselves, or we will live by someone else’s definition that they have set for their life. This is a problem. You can’t achieve someone else’s dream or someone else’s success. These things are way too personal. The truth is, anyone can be rich, anyone can be successful, anyone can live their dreams. In order to do it though, we have to be brave enough to cast off all other definitions of what this kind of life is supposed to look like and begin defining and pursuing it for ourselves.
Bottom line, the journey towards a rich, successful life of your dreams starts when you define exactly what that life will look like for you personally.
