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What is Success?
If you are nearing retirement age, you probably think you know about success. You formed those images long ago and they guided you along as you raised your family and worked your way up the corporate ladder. You might have measured success by your possessions, the achievements of your kids or how impressive your job title or street address was. Looking back, you might feel please with your accomplishments. More likely you are disappointed because you failed to achieve the dreams you started with. You may also have discovered along the way that goals that you thought would be very satisfying are empty. Your kid got into an Ivy League school but now that he graduated, you never see him. Your fancy house sits empty and is a money pit. And that’s just if you are successful. Maybe you didn’t come close to your dreams. You retired out of a dead end job you hated, your kids work at McDonald’s and your house is a shack. Well the good news is that it doesn’t matter. When you retire, you start all over.
This time, be Smarter.
This time instead of just accepting what you see other people doing it’s time to start asking yourself questions. What do you really want? At this point in your life, do you have a different perspective on success than you had when you started your career? Who among the people you know do you consider to be successful? Who’s retirement lifestyle do you envy? Are they living your perfect day and what did they do to become successful? Most people never ask themselves those powerful questions. They assume that success comes from luck and not hard work. We all start our life adventures with dreams of success but we don’t know what to do about making those dreams come true.
As a result many of. us finish without making those dreams reality. The excuse we fall back on is luck . This allows us to excuse failure because we don’t know how to succeed. Success is the result of hard work and strategic thinking. Luck is winning the lottery. Success is winning the lottery and still having the fortune 5 years later. Success has nothing to do with luck. Success is a mindset and a worldview.
Make a Plan
Like a house, your life will be better when it is built from a plan and the start for that plan is a clear vision of the successful lifestyle you want. Know what is important to you. It could be money. It could be friends. It could be family. It could be career. Visualize the life that you will live and think about what you need to know to make that life possible. With the vision in your head you can make a plan to accomplish your vision.
So begin.
You can take charge of your success at any point in your life. Starting when you are young is ideal because success is never instant. You can start any time, however. You have to change your thinking and let go of old habits. You have to know what you want, make a plan to get it and then follow that plan faithfully over the long run.
If you are drifting through life, accepting what happens and hoping for some lucky break then you won’t achieve success. You can settle for that life has given you or you can take control. You can make that break at any time. Whatever you want in life; however you define success, it only takes a decision to change your life. Don’t fool yourself that success is a random event. Success is the result of a carefully planned champagne. Don’t underestimate the power of your will to control your life by believing in luck. Make a plan for your life and become the success you deserve to be.
Don’t give up on your dreams.
Retirement is not the time to abandon dreams. It is the time to rethink your life goals and priorities It is a time to change direction, forget your past and learn something new and surprise yourself by becoming an inspiration Don’t limit your dreams and don’t limit yourself.
Dream limitation occurs throughout one’s life (except for the very young). It is sad at any age, but particularly unfortunate when one has enough experience and maturity to understand the precious nature of time.
If not now, when? Drifting may be good down a stream in a canoe, but is no way to live a life.
Satisfyingretirement’s last Blog Post ..Did You Notice
Bob,
When the dream is gone, life is sure to follow.
I figure that the difference between getting old and merely getting older is that the former condition involves a lack of hopes and dreams, while the latter involves maintaining a distinct level of optimistic engagement with life.
Banjo Steve,
I figure you’re right.
Ralph… A couple of thoughts. First, I like your idea of asking “Who do I know who is successful?” This question begs the critical question, “What is success?” And the answer to that question is, of course, different for each individual. Second, regarding your thought of “drifting through life…” A friend of mine is a noted career consultant. He compares management of one’s career to a leaf drifting downstream. He claims that, most of us, allow the stream’s current to determine the path of one’s career. I believe the same is so often true of one’s retirement. Bill
Bill Birnbaum’s last Blog Post ..Afternoon Nap – Yes or No
Bill,
Thanks for that comment. Success is indeed very personal and also most of us let life drive us instead of driving it. .
That’s something to really think about. I’ve always been behind the wheel when it comes to fulfilling dreams in my life.
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Ralph, I think our definition of success alters with the different stages of our lives. What was important at 25 is usually irrelevant at 60.
My own definition of success now is health and happiness, at 25 it was houses, cars and plenty of money.
Plenty of millionaires wish they could buy good health.
Bill
Bill,
You are certainly right. It’s funny that it seems you only find out what’s really important at the end of the race.
Success is sometimes just having very few regrets. The one thing that is for sure there is no do over. To me real success is doing things that turn out to be right. I think that what gets overlooked is how you treated others in your life.
When you are older your values are different. It seems that youth is for learning and maturity is for knowing. Some people are wise and don’t get caught up in what most people see as success.
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Blanche,
Definitely, I hope not to have many regrets when I die. Considering that I’ve wasted a lot of time on unimportant things, I have to get busy. But it is true that – in my golden years- I have a different perspective.