In my seminars, I frequently asked people what they thought it meant to be a success. It always appealed to me as I’ve always been interested in helping others to become more successful. I’ve discovered that people often find it hard to define success. But if they do not know what success is, how will they ever achieve it?

This is Peter Ng. Welcome to my motivational series – Awakening the Power within You – Success You Deserve!

Most people have a vague picture of what it means to be a successful person, and sometimes their descriptions are something like this:
“The wealth of Bill Gates; the physique of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Kate Hudson; the intelligence of Albert Einstein; the athletic ability of Tiger Woods; the business prowess of Donald Trump; the social grace and poise of Princess Diana; the imagination of Walt Disney; and the heart of Mother Teresa.”

That sounds absurd; especially we can’t be eight other people! Many of us picture success as looking like the others than who we are. If you tried to become just like one of these other people, you wouldn’t be successful. You would be a bad imitation of them, and you would eliminate the possibility of becoming the person you were meant to be.

I was reading a book written by Donald Trump on ‘Why we want you to be rich’, he said, “The real measure of success is how happy you are. I have a lot of friends who don’t have a lot of money, but they are a lot happier than I am, so therefore, I say that they are probably more successful.” Trump, whom many consider successful, believes happiness is success. Maybe his friends think he is the successful one. This belief demonstrates that many people equate success with what they don’t have.

The picture of success isn’t the same for any two people because we are all created differently as unique individuals with unique abilities and talents. One of my favorite definitions of success is from John Maxwell, “Success is knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.” You can see from this definition why success is a journey rather than a destination.

No matter how long you live or what you decide to do in life, you will never exhaust your capacity to grow toward your potential or run out of opportunities to help others. It always has been a strong philosophy in my life that ‘Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.’ By so believing, success is no longer a distant future goal. It is a present reality.

Success is waking up in the morning, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever your age are, and bounding out of bed because there’s something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that you’re good at – something that’s bigger than you are, and you can hardly wait to get at it again today.

One of the most important goals you must achieve to be happy and successful in life is the development of your own character. People like you because of your personality – not your external looks. Develop character is as important, if not more important, than lifting up beauty. Fully eighty-five percent of your happiness in life is going to come from your relationships with other people. We live within the context of the people in our lives. How well we get along with them, and they with us, largely determines the quality of everything that happens to us.

To be successful in relationships, make it a habit of practicing unconditional acceptance with everyone you meet, under all conditions. You will be amazed at the positive effect you have on the people around you. Here are three great tips you can develop to assure wonderful human relationships:
• Be joyful – each time you share your joy, you raise the self-esteem of the person you are with.
• Develop an attitude of Gratitude – the more appreciative and thankful you are of the good things in your life, the more that they will increase and expand.
• Be Less Self-Centered – Strength, energy, and power pulses in the heart of other-centeredness.

Everyone deserves success. You know you can be successful in every area and every aspects of your life, make it a reality today!