A Better Measure of Success

The headline caught my eye, "The Goal: Wealth and Fame." The article in USA Today examined a recent survey of top life goals for the college-age crowd. It surprised me that there was a 33% jump, today versus thirty-eight years ago, in beliefs of college freshman that being financially well off was "essential" or "very important." But what surprised me more was their desire to be famous.

Perhaps it's indicative that this celebrity-obsessed culture produced freshmen defining success in terms of money and notoriety, putting the value of "a meaningful philosophy of life" 40% lower than their counterparts four decades ago. While the article posed interesting research on this up-and-coming group, it got me thinking about success.

What is success, anyway? What does it mean to be successful? Is the appearance of success, like wealth or fame, the same as being successful? Who is successful and who isn't? And who determines it?

If both wealth and fame are the parameters by which success is to be judged, then Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa and Gandhi would not be in the success hall of fame. Nor would Susan B. Anthony, Abraham Lincoln or Rosa Parks. Yet these people positively changed the world.

So have scores of inventors, teachers, writers, musicians, scientists, designers, builders, doctors, leaders, parents and engineers. But they weren't rich and famous, and no magazines devoted pages to their day-to-day sightings.

Yet without their achievements, the conveniences we take for granted, the technologies that save our lives, and the endeavors that engage our souls wouldn't exist. Things like: airplanes, x-rays, medicines, bridges, post-it-notes, cell phones, movies, music, books, microwaves, computers, prosthetics, fashions and ATMs, to name but a few.

Every day, people who are winning at working focus on new ideas, break-through technologies and solutions to global problems. They focus on child-rearing, firefighting, and community building. They focus on education, service and healing. They don't have household names and may struggle to pay the mortgage, but they're successful.

You see there's a better definition of success, and people who are winning at working know it. Success is not about the money. It's not about the recognition or the glory or the fame. It's not about an outward measure someone else establishes. And while money, recognition, and fame may come to people who are winning at working, the difference is this: it's not the goal. It's a by-product of their passionate endeavors, hard work, ongoing efforts and achievements.

For people who are winning at working, success is an inner measure of passionately doing what they are able to do, making a difference with their lives and maximizing their gifts and talents. They measure success by leaving the world a bit better for having been here.