Success is liking yourself: There are so many definitions of success and failure that I lose track of it. However, this definition from Maya Angelou stands out because it talks about something that we don’t often listen to. Success is internal, it is how we feel about ourselves. Perhaps one of the toughest things is to appreciate and be happy with ourselves. Success in this context is telling us the same – it is about liking what we do, how we do it and living up to our values in life.
So many times, we’re influenced by the world around us. Social media makes it difficult to lead a life without comparing ourselves to others. Due to the glorification of some successes, we’re always in a competition of trying to be better and it easily causes envy. And before we know it, we fall victim to this vicious cycle of never-ending hustle to be successful.
Success is Liking yourself
Let’s pause for a minute and ask – what does success mean to you? I don’t want to hear about the typical – more wealth, power or fame etc. It is an internal question – what does it mean to you? There are factors beyond what’s advertised in the media about success. I will sound daft if I speak about love, friendship, peace and mental health. But I want to talk about it because not enough number of us spend time on it. Life is fleeting and will run away in this chase for success if we don’t focus on things that we value most.
Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.
MAYA ANGELOU
The other things to achieve might scrape through the external definitions of success, but if you don’t like who you are or what you’ve become in the process – such success is the worst failure. So, take a moment, and think about what success and failure mean to you. Identify the genesis of these meanings – why does success mean a certain thing to you? And most importantly – is it your definition or influenced by someone else? If you’re influenced by someone else, are they the right role model?
Success is liking what you do and how you do it
The extension of liking yourself is in what you do. Our actions determine who we are and become as people. We might have the nicest ideas in our mind, but if we don’t act on them – these ideas are mere thoughts. They are nice to have but they don’t account for anything. The real difference is when we do something about these ideas.
So, beyond liking yourself is the step of being conscious of what you do. And falling in love with what you do. There are plenty of ways to get the same results. If you achieve an outcome by compromising your values, it may appear successful to the external world, but you’ll know and treat that as a failure. Focus on what you do and most importantly how you do something. That will elevate the meaning of success and its effort. The main point to remember is that success is not an endpoint. It is a journey – and who we become in the process is more important than just achieving something and marking it as done. It is more fundamental and linked to your character and personality.
MAYA ANGELOU
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I’ve also read something similar to what’s quoted here by Viktor Frankl, “Success and Happiness are things that shouldn’t be pursued but are things that follow a person who’s doing what s/he loves or loving s/he does” (This is not the exact quote). You’re right, success is more of a mindset than an object. It really depends on our personal definition of it, which also becomes irrelevant when we are busy doing what we like!
Thanks for sharing this quote Jayasurya – it is a very nice one :). Probably it is my age catching up (gosh I sound old :D ). I used to be so driven by these two words a couple of years ago. I have been in a mad rush to achieve the so called big success, the big bucks, marks, fame – you name it. But of late, I realise they are all pretty meaningless. We do things because it makes us feel good. Granted that there is a concept of striving to do something exciting, fun and creating a difference. But end of the day, it is pretty meaningless if it doesn’t make us happy.