Category: Let's talk
I just got this list from online. I found many things here that were important, so I'm posting it here for everyone. Do you agree or disagree with the list? In your opinion, How Do You Measure Success?
21 Suggestions for SUCCESS by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
Work at something you enjoy and that's worthy of your time and talent.
Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
Be forgiving of yourself and others.
Be generous.
Have a grateful heart.
Persistence, persistence, persistence.
Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.
Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
Commit yourself to constant improvement.
Commit yourself to quality.
Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
Be loyal.
Be honest.
Be a self-starter.
Be decisive even if it means you'll sometimes be wrong.
Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.
Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did.
Take good care of those you love.
Don't do anything that wouldn't make your Mom proud.
Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
I like this part.
raaj.
While most of these things would lead to a successful life, I think it is just totally outside of the characteristics of human nature to do all of those things. Some examples of this would be to treat others as you would like to be treated, being honest and/or loyal, taking responsibility for all of your actions, and to stop putting the blame on others. Why? Because it is difficult to own up to everything you've done, depending on what you've done. Also, telling the truth doesn't always get you to a positive place, somewhere you would like to be, or help you in the long run. but that's just sometimes. And also, in certain situations, you just think that some people deserve some really harsh treatment, but if that were you, you know you'd hate to be treated so harshly.
And I'd have to be in total disagreement with that last one. Marrying the person you are most happy with, or indulging in the career you most desire are just a couple things that may not make your mother happy for or proud of you.
Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
While I do take real love very seriously, I don't think it's advisable that so much of your happiness or misery depend on someone else. Even when one is married, one is still ultimately responsible for his/her own happiness and validation.
Don't do anything that wouldn't make your Mom proud.
Well, that's all right for those who have close relationships with their families. That's not always the case, though.
Other than that, not a bad list.
Namaste,
Becky
Work at something you enjoy and that's worthy of your time and talent.
Be forgiving of yourself and others.
Have a grateful heart.
Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
Take good care of those you love.
Don't do anything that wouldn't make your Mom proud.
I agree with certain ones, some of them make this person sound like they have read Carnegie
Maybe this one is more about just happiness than success, as I'm more of one who focuses on happpiness and not necessarily success as people tend to think of it, but they forgot one important one. As much as you can, avoid comparing yourself to others, for you will always conclude that you are the loser.
Godzilla, I agree. Well, that would be true for most people anyway.
I think the whole outlook on this is that if you're not successful, you're not happy. Which isn't always true.
what is success and how can a person determine if they are successful? These questions and the search for their answers are what has driven much of society throughout time.
I think this article has it partially right. However, like someone said it is more of a list of how to be happy.
Society says that successful people have lots of stuff and lots of money. If it weren't for those rich overachieving materialists, many of the workers in the helping professions would be looking for employment elsewhere.
A good job. Now If I had that I'd be successful. Personally I don't care much about my job but I don't think I'm unsuccessful. My employment is a vehicle to drive me down my pportion of life's road.
Success is a feeling. If we feel we are successful then we are. I am a lower middle class person who is working in a dead end job. However, I feel very successful because I set goals early in my life and have reached many of them. These were not necessarily material or financial yard sticks, but certain life exams and experiences I needed to persue or possess.
True Success is individual, private and personal. It is not necessarily what society says it is. does this make sense?
I agree with the last poster, its not about what others think, but what you think of yourself that matters. As far as the list goes, I agree with some of it, but not all of it. The few things I agree with are the following: Commit yourself to constant improvement, Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect, and the last thing would be Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did. The list is okay, but its too general. Everyone understands things differently. I definetely agree with the previous posters, this list is more focused on how to be happy than how to be successful.
I both agree & disagree.
For me being successful is having lots of money & having people to do my bidding. However, allow me to explain.
The lots of money wouldn't be to spend frivilously, giving my kids designer race car cribs & clothes & junk, nor for myself. The money would be to help the poor, to help the environment & the animals, etc etc etc. & people to do my bidding would involve them driving me to places so I could personally see where my money went that I gave out, to personally see it being put to good use. Paying for a child's facial surgeries, or providing AID's meds to a sickly baby or other such things. So until I attain those goals, I won't consider myself successful.
People in my life like to point out how I've overcome the odds having been born with a facial disfigurement so severe it caused me to drown in my mother's amneotic fluid. So severe that I should have died, or at the very least had severe brain damage, neither of which happened. But for them, that's how the measure my abilities. For me, it isn't, so I don't feel about myself as they do.
Also, the poster who said you shouldn't compare yourself to others, because you will always feel that you're the loser is absolutely correct. Too bad it's hard for most of us to follow that advice.