How Do YOU Define Success?
It’s Monday and I’m going to make you think; deal with it 
.
I was reading an article of the same name over at Bryn Youngblut’s blog. Actually I’ve been in many of these discussions, as I’m sure many of you have as well…..well now you’re going to tell me and our little community here.
How Do YOU Define Success?
My response in Bryn’s comment section was, and I quote myself “Success for me = just knowing I am on the right path; the right track doing what I want to do…the rest will fall into place with determination.“
Notice anything in there about money? Nope. Success is a totally individual thing, and I strongly believe that most people have no idea what success means to them. An even stronger belief of mine is “financial freedom” is a catch-all cop-out for these 9 outa 10 people.
Do you realize how many truly pathetic rich people are alive today (or dead for that matter)? This is considered SUCCESS?? Pulease.
Yes, I do currently live paypal to paypal (catchy huh?) and yes I do consider myself a success; because I’M DOING IT.
When responding below, please think first; if you truly believe more money then you could ever spend is your version of success then fine. Also pay close attention to the title.
I don’t care what “they” quote success as…I could care less what you think of other marketers and their success. I want to know, How Do YOU Define Success?
Dennis
Related posts:
- PLEASE COMMENT - Have You EVER Used The Added Feature Of My Subscribe To Comments Plugin?? The next post will have the results from the last...
Jaq @ Net Age Web Design
Kev
Latief@AnotherBlogger
sherry
May 11th, 2009 at 5:10 am
Ha ha ha… I have often referred success to income achievement in the past, but even with making huge fortune, I found myself unsatisfied or unfulfilled.
Time proved me that there was more than money in life especially after my late wife passed away with my two daughter while I was busy making money. No matter how much I had at that time, I surely didn’t feel like a “success”.
Time have past since then, and I’ve got the chance to be remarried recently to a wonderful woman who changed all my views on life.
Today, my definition of success would simply be the tag line that I now use all the time:
“I wake up in the morning, go to sleep at night, and in between I do what I want to do.”
Nicolas Prudhon´s last blog post..Improve Your Website Crawling Rate
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 8:37 am
@Nicolas Prudhon, I always did like that tag.
May 11th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Success to me can be defined as compromising as little as possible in day to day life. How I spend my time, with whom I spend my time, etc — is it as close to my ideal, on a practical level, as it can be?
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Book Launch for Michael Schmelling’s The Plan at Family
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 8:38 am
@Matty Byloos, Interesting you posed that as a question…let us know if you come up with the answer…
Matty Byloos Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 11:29 am
@Dennis Edell, Yes. I think the question part comes not from doubt so much as it does the idea that every day, success, like happiness, is both a choice and a challenge. So I ask myself — am I happy? Am I successful today? I know that I can do things to directly impact the answers to these questions, and this it wise to remind myself it doesn’t happen by accident.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: 5.13.09 Honey Bees
May 12th, 2009 at 12:13 am
I believe that I am a success. I have made my plan and sticking to it. I take action everyday to complete my plan.
KushMoney´s last blog post..Blog Updates May 2009
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 8:39 am
@KushMoney, That’s all it is is my mind my man.
KushMoney Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
@Dennis Edell, All we can ask for is health and to complete our goals.
KushMoney´s last blog post..What Is Your Fear About Blogging?
Matty Byloos Reply:
May 18th, 2009 at 10:00 am
@KushMoney, I think the idea of forward momentum, consistent daily progress is super important integral to a notion of success. Strong point. With blogging too, it’s such a direct correlation. You have to write, link, connect with others every day.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: 5.13.09 Honey Bees
KushMoney Reply:
May 18th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
@Matty Byloos, Indeed my friend. A lot of people can’t keep that up everyday. That’s why many bloggers give up.
KushMoney´s last blog post..Publish Your Blog On The Amazon Kindle
May 12th, 2009 at 12:22 am
Yes, money doesn’t provide all those things that are ‘really’ necessary during difficult times!!
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 8:40 am
@Steve, Welcome to the community!
I thank you for the agreement, but you haven’t answered the question.
May 12th, 2009 at 1:04 am
Dennis,
I don’t define success by how much money I can make. I define success by how many people I can help.
Kai Lo´s last blog post..Effective Anchor Text Link
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 8:41 am
@Kai Lo, Awesome reply Kai.
May 12th, 2009 at 3:24 am
If I have a little something that brings some happiness to me during the day than it’s a successful day. It can be money, or a joke, or meeting a friend at the street…
May 12th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I guess I’ll be the only one out in left field to say a wife and kids is what I define as a success. *cough*
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 8:41 am
@Michael, LOL Welcome to the community Michael!
May 12th, 2009 at 8:45 am
one word “happiness” : )
May 12th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
It’s a bit funny to me that on a marketing blog, everyone actually behaves like a real human, in terms of how they define success, instead of a pack of megalomaniacal, money-hungry scoundrels. I almost hope some people weigh in and say that lots and lots of money makes them feel like a success, just so natural order can be restored to the world.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Book Launch for Michael Schmelling’s The Plan at Family
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 8:43 am
@Matty Byloos, An interesting community I do have, eh?
Matty Byloos Reply:
May 28th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
@Dennis Edell, Re-reading these success comments to balance over-indulging in your hypothetical porn advert comment spree. Yes. Very interesting website community you have here, Dennis. Really refreshing to see a good lot with positive intentions and practices with values.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: 5.27.09: Lou Reed Language Lessons
May 12th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I think success can be defined by having the means to live life as fully as you wish, while still doing something rewarding to yourself, and to others. One person’s definition of success could be having millions of dollars so they can travel the world, whereas another person’s could be having a happy family that is well provided for. It really depends on what is important to someone, their values, and the things they have learned in life that equates in their mind as success.
~ Kristi
Kikolani´s last blog post..SPNbabble for Web Professionals - No Twitter, All Babble
May 12th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Success = not failing. Ultimate fail = Death. Ultimate Success = not dying?
Success is not an all encompassing term. It is defined by each individual when put into some context.
Matty Byloos Reply:
May 13th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
@hilary-chicago custom tailor, This makes me very curious as to what you really think success is — specifically for you. Can you elaborate and be very specific? According to you logic, we are all destined to ultimately fail, and fail BIG. This sounds pretty pessimistic…
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: 5.13.09 Honey Bees
May 13th, 2009 at 1:32 am
I feel I have achieved success when I reach one of my goals. For example, I wanted my blog to rank well in Google for a specific term, so I put some work into it and eventually saw myself creep closer to page 1. Unfortunately the term doesn’t bring in a ton of traffic but I now rank in the top 3 results for it, so I certainly feel like I have reached my goal and even though it’s something small, its still success to me!
Dot Com Dud´s last blog post..3 Way Linking
May 13th, 2009 at 7:44 am
Success from my opinion is achieving plans and reaching goals!
nice post!
May 15th, 2009 at 2:56 am
How to define my success? that’s the question..
for me, success if i can reach all that I wish to get.
that’s all…so simple..but very hard effort..
-Jean-
May 15th, 2009 at 5:01 am
Meaning of success differs from person to person .. for instance a child’s success is getting something what it likes and for a man also the sane thing but with a little change in the want.. so success defines itself according to the situation.
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 8:45 am
@Mark, Welcome to the community Mark!
So what’s YOUR definition for it? How or when do you consider yourself a success?
May 15th, 2009 at 7:27 am
you don’t define success, you BECOME success(full)
Indian Retailer´s last blog post..3i India looks to invest $50-60 mn this year
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 15th, 2009 at 8:46 am
@Indian Retailer, Welcome to the community!
OK then, how do you know if you’ve become successful if you don’t define for yourself what success to YOU is?
May 15th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Success is when you have reached your goals, pending they are not outragous. I’m not successful. I failed.
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 17th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
@Justin, First, welcome to the community!
Second, why do you say you’ve failed? Perhaps you just haven’t succeeded yet according to what you consider success.
Ultimate failure is only accomplished when you totally give up.
May 17th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Some of the greatest post are writing so simple. I have been blogging for a little over a year my goal was to make money and I admit get semi famous for being such a cool guy
Since Nov after many months I began to make money to the point that it was starting to look like this was the answer. In the last few months I have given away most of the money and realized that money isn’t the answer.
I agree we only fail when we give up and I’m far from that:)
Thanks
Stumbled
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 9:43 am
@John Sullivan,
Thanks for the awesome comment John, and welcome back to our little community here!
May 17th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Hey Dennis…it seems we think along the same lines. As you saw on my last blog post, I believe success encompasses much more than just money, but is really about living in joy.
To quote myself, “To me, true success is working on something I enjoy, something that brings a sense of fulfillment and peace, and provides financial freedom with it.”
Money does play a part in what I consider success, for one, because without it I would not be able to provide the things I desire for my family but also because it is important to me to be able to give whenever the opportunity arises.
I’ve lived through times in my life when I have not been able to provide those things, and it’s a terrible feeling. But if I had a boatload of money dumped on me, does that make me a success? No… I’d still want something to work on that gave me that sense of fulfillment.
Coree´s last blog post..Top Women Breaking Internet Glass Ceilings
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 9:41 am
@Coree, You’re quite right. It definitely includes financial beings in many cases, it just shouldn’t be all encompassing.
Coree Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
@Dennis Edell, Right! Hey, I have a question off the subject for you.
What plugin do you use…or how do you manage the nested comments? I’d like to do that on my blog so I can reply right under the commentor.
You’ve got some very creative ideas for bringing traffic…I’m learning from you, my friend! Think I need to do some sort of contest!!
Coree´s last blog post..Women, Children, Fast Food and Big Square Butts - How To Get Your Commercial Banned
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
@Coree, http://blog.2i2j.com/plugins/wordpress-thread-comment is the best one I found out of several.
Contests are an awesome source for whatever your end game may be, traffic, subscribers, whatever.
May 18th, 2009 at 1:32 am
“Success is the completion of anything intended.” In other words success is finishing what you planned to do. It’s not only the achievements you have but how you stand up,accept failure and face challenges in life that’s the true success.
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 9:38 am
@nissan-doing business in the philippines,
Very well put Nissan. Welcome to our little community here, I hope to see you around more often!
May 18th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
“Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value” -Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 9:33 am
@John, Okinawa Photographer,
Awesome quote John, welcome to the community!
May 19th, 2009 at 4:33 am
success is what you have with you today and failure is what you lost in past
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 9:32 am
@roger don,
Intriguing Roger, and welcome to our community!
May 19th, 2009 at 11:36 am
To me success is a feeling which make you happy when you go to bed at the end of your day.
Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog post..Links for 2009-05-18 [Digg]
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
@Arafat Hossain Piyada,
Thanks for the input Arafat, and welcome to the community!
May 19th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Thanks Dennis. It’s really a good site to spend my off time.
Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog post..Links for 2009-05-18 [Digg]
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
@Arafat Hossain Piyada,
Excellent to hear, thank you. I hope to see you around more often.
May 19th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Success is being able to do what you are called to do when you are called to do it.
Gail@GrowMap´s last blog post..How to Create a Successful Blog Based Business Part 1
Dennis Edell Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
A little elaboration please…
Michael Reply:
May 28th, 2009 at 7:23 am
@Dennis Edell, define success on your own…just give your opinion
May 20th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Success for me is when all things that you did goes according to your plan surpassing any kind of problems, simple as that.
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:54 am
According to me Success is to achieve the desired goal and (make some good money)
Typhoon´s last blog post..Google May 2009 Toolbar PageRank Update - I am still PR4
June 3rd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I’d have to admit that success for me must be tied in with money. I could become the most popular person in the world and have all sorts of fame, but without money it means absolutely nothing because I’d still have bills to pay.
Money wouldn’t be the end all, though. I’d need to finally feel comfortable enough to take a vacation, which my wife and I haven’t done since 1998, and I was still working for someone else back then.
So, overall, when I get to the point where I never have to worry about paying a bill again, and can come and go and decide when I want to work, then I’ll be successful. Until then, I’m just a brotha trying to make a buck.
Mitch´s last blog post..SEO & Common Business Sense
Dennis Edell Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 8:09 am
@Mitch, You make a very good point amnd money should of course be included.
I was just making a point for the money hungry that as you say it is not the end all.
I know people from poor to unbelievably filthy rich in life, and believe me, they are not all happy campers.
Mitch Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 8:46 am
@Dennis Edell, That’s true, Dennis. However, a couple of days ago, Johnny Depp was quoted as saying something like “Having a lot of money won’t end your problems. But it will buy you a big boat to help you get away from them.”
Mitch´s last blog post..Li’l Specs Revisited
Dennis Edell Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 9:56 am
@Mitch, Now your boat capsizes. Damn. Your money is useless and you’ve pissed off so many people along the way, help is not coming.
Mitch Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 10:19 am
@Dennis Edell, That’s why I wouldn’t get on a boat; I can’t swim! lol
However, I’d buy that nice little car, and even if I crashed and burned, I’d have lived the high life for a little while.
Mitch´s last blog post..SEO & Common Business Sense
Dennis Edell Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 10:23 am
@Mitch, The mid-life crisis sports car? Duuude, you’re better then that.
Mitch Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 10:29 am
@Dennis Edell, No, that wouldn’t be me, especially not here in the Syracuse area. But one has to get around some way where they won’t drown and is still doing all the driving.
The only real dream I have for all my money (wish list) is to never have to worry about the ability to pay any bills again, no matter what they are. Sure, I’d like a few things, but the only expensive thing I can think of is my dream home, and I don’t even have an idea what that would look like. Everything else is relatively inexpensive, thing I could probably get now. But I “have” to try to work and make money; I’d rather get to a point where it’s an option instead.
Mitch´s last blog post..9 Posts You Should See - My Version Of Link Love
June 6th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Success for me is achieving something that matters and makes a difference. Something that I worked hard for, experience misfortunes along the way, but somehow still managing to stand up and face everything to get to the point of success! Success isn’t possible without hard work, determination, passion, and a little bit of luck! Thanks!
June 9th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I just went to a seminar called Lifeonaire. If you are a millionaire you have a lot of money. If you are a lifeonaire you have a lot of life.
They pointed out many success driven people and especially entrepeneurs tend to focus on business and financial aspects of life. We tend to spend our time on our businesses and fit life in the time left over. That’s backwards, spend time on life and fit the business in the time left over.
The bottom line is it is making me rethink what is important to me and my goals. - Ned Carey
Baltimore Ned´s last blog post..What Are You Doing to be Successful?
August 27th, 2009 at 4:23 am
some define the success is result, but i define the success is the right path,because whole lift not everything will success.