What Good Success Is and How to Attain It by Imeh David

Success is such a sweet, happy, and satisfying thing. As Amos Bronson Alcott, an American teacher and writer asserts, “Success is sweet, the sweeter if long delayed and attained through manifold struggles and defeats.” Truth is that it’s not every success that’s sweet.

Some success is a sugar-coated bitterness. It brings immediate comfort and very temporary happiness, but later, it brings hurts, pains, and unhappiness. So there’s good success that is continuously sweet and fulfilling, and there’s bad success that ends in shame and reproach.

Having good or bad success depends on what we understand success to mean. Some people see success just in terms of earned university degrees, trophies, national and international awards, business breakthroughs, riches, and so on. Raymond Igbalode, alias Hushppupi, an Instagram celebrity, for instance, may have defined success mainly as having luxurious cars, big mansions, big bank balances, and so on.

On the other hand, outstandingly successful people see success in a different light. A few of them listed below will suffice:

 Raj Sisodia, professor at Babson College, USA, says “I define success as living my true purpose and having a positive impact on the lives of people by uplifting them and inspiring them to think and act in ways that they may not have considered before.”

Oprah Winfrey, an American talk show host and billionaire, see success in terms of “...How to be used in the greater service to life...is the major definition of success, to me.”

Stephen Covey, an American educator, businessman and author, believes that “If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience you will find your definition of success.”

This is how billionaire Bill Gates defines success, “It is also nice to feel like you made a difference – inventing something or raising kids or helping people in need.”

Warren Buffett, a leading investor in the world, says that “I measure success by how many people love me.” The value he adds to people’s lives is what makes them love him.

These big names see success basically as what contributions they make, unique services they render, and value they add to humanity. The commitment they make to meet the needs of the society. This still doesn’t give us a holistic view of what constitutes good success.

To gain such understanding, let’s state at this juncture that man has multi-dimensional needs. He’s a spirit – he has spiritual needs. He has a soul – he has thinking, feeling, and decision-making needs. He lives in a physical body – he has physical and material needs.

As I’ve indicated in chapter one of the eBook, Principles of Constant Cash Flow and Sustainable Wealth, these three basic needs of man (spiritual, mental-emotional, and physical-material) can further be broken into 10 vital areas of human needs namely: (i) spiritual (ii) educational/training (iii) career/work (iv) self-development (v) financial/business/investment (vi) family/relationships, (vii) physical/material (viii) health and long life (ix) safety and security (x) contributions to humanity.

These are also the vital areas of success. So any success that is not comprehensive enough to cover these 10 areas is lopsided, unbalanced, and incomplete success. It doesn’t make sense to “succeed” financially and fail in morals, for instance. In the end, the society doesn’t celebrate armed robbers, online fraudsters, and those who shed human blood to get riches. Criminals themselves don’t have peace of mind and a sense of fulfillment in life.

With this understanding, we can define good success as progressive realization of our God-ordained, predetermined goals in all the vital areas of our life. That is, in each of these 10 fundamental areas of life, we are seen to gradually and continually make progress.

So to use wrong ways and means to defraud people and make money, drive big cars, build big houses, and even have billions of dollars in one’s bank account is bad “success”. Such success is values-deficient; it’s very transient and unfulfilling. It’s full of pains and regrets.

But to build your material and financial progress on a strong foundation of spirituality, values, good character, honesty with people, and hard work is good success. That is the success that lasts and brings joy, peace of mind, and a sense of fulfillment.

Now that we know the meaning of good success, how can we attain it?

(1) Love, fear, and obey God: The source of good, durable and sustainable success is God. Joshua 1:8 is an anchor Scripture on this: “This Book of the Law (God’s Word) shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

(2) Define your core values and commit to them: Dependable and trust-worthy people are driven by values. Your values will help you not only to build strong success structures in all areas of life but to also sustain them. And the first principle that will best guide you in determining your core values is that core values hinge on a moral foundation, and God’s Word is the most reliable, most dependable, most standard and truest source of morals. Draw your core values from the Holy Scriptures.

(3) Always treat people well and fairly: Good success can never be at the expense of others, it’s only bad success that will always cheat, dupe, swindle, and hurt other people.

For your life to have true meaning, always go for good success.

For more inspiration: The eBooks below are very useful.

(1)  Power of Contributions Impact of Legacies.

(2)  Principles of Constant Cash Flow and Sustainable Wealth.

(3) Extraordinary Leadership Today.

(4)  Covenant Access to Wealth.

 

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