Success Isn't All About Money

This week I had the opportunity learn a lot about how to measure your success and how to help yourself be successful. One of the things I learned was measuring your success solely off of your career’s success would be wrong. You need to first make sure you understand what things are the most important in your life. The happiness of my family is very important to me and if I made millions of dollars, but they were unhappy my life would not be successful. I want to make sure that I do all I can to provide for not only their financial needs, but also make sure their other needs are met as well. As I thought about this I realized that if you are in a managers position you have the ability to make sure this could happen for people working under you. Many times people will have a bad a day at work and when they get home their family will suffer for it as well. If we make sure people feel their work is not only appreciated, by telling them good job and thank you, then they will be happier at work and at home. When people are happier they are more effective and will be more successful.

Another thing that I found interesting this week was something I heard in a video. It said, “Do what you love.” I have heard this before and I want to make sure I follow this advice, but then there was something added that really made me look at this idea from a different angle. Not only should we do what we love because we will enjoy it and be happier for it, but also we should do what we love because we will be better at it. When I am doing something I love I will go above and beyond to learn more about it, improve it, and share it with others. You, as well as others, will be able to see passion in your work. You will also be less likely to take a bad attitude home with you because you will be happier with the work you are doing. As we do what we love and understand what things are truly important will be able to look at our lives and know we are successful. It won’t matter how much money we are making or what our job title is, because we will have found purpose for ourselves. We will be in a situation to improve our lives and the lives of those around us.