What is True Success?
- Do What You Love
- Service to Others
- Hard Work and Dedication for Worthy Values
- Service to God
- Fulfilling Your Potential
- Experiencing Feelings and Attitudes of Value
INTRODUCTION
True success is success to the nth degree. It is what people believe is the highest form of success, and it usually comes up as a topic when people want to point out and distinguish different levels of success, and assert that some forms of success are more meaningful than others.
As an example, Michelle Obama has contended, “Success isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.” In other words, there is a more meaningful form of success in life than making money. Making money in itself is not true success for Michelle Obama. Making a difference in people’s lives is.
However, it would only be fair to say that not everyone would necessarily agree with Michelle Obama, as there are a variety of ideas that people have about true success; and the very notion of true success itself can get quite complicated.
So, without pretending to be definitive about the issue, what we would like to do is to offer a guided collection of insightful quotations about some of the major themes of true success.
We believe that true success is not only a fascinating theme, but is one of utmost importance. Hopefully, by reflecting on ideas about true success, it will be helpful for clarifying your own thoughts on the subject and for reaching a better idea of your own view of what true success means – for you.
The individual who can go through life with a clear and guiding idea of what he or she values most and considers to be the truest form of achievement will have an invaluable motivating inner-resource for living a truly satisfying and fulfilling life.
“Let us reflect on what is truly of value in life, what gives meaning to our lives, and set our priorities on the basis of that.”
Dalai Lama
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Do What You Love
“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.” (Wayne Dyer)
“I’d rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate.” (George Burns)
“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” (Steve Jobs)
“What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” (Bob Dylan)
“I think the foremost quality – there’s no success without it – is really loving what you do. If you love it, you do it well, and there’s no success if you don’t do well what you’re working at.” (Malcolm Forbes)
“Never give up searching for the job that you’re passionate about. Try to find the job you’d have if you were independently rich. Forget about the pay. When you’re associating with the people that you love, doing what you love, it doesn’t get any better than that.” (Warren Buffet)
“To be ‘on purpose’ means you’re doing what you love to do, doing what you’re good at, and accomplishing what’s important to you.” (Jack Canfield)
“You might not make it to the top, but if you are doing what you love, there is much more happiness there than being rich or famous.” (Tony Hawk)
“Success comes in a lot of ways, but it doesn’t come with money and it doesn’t come with fame. It comes from having a meaning in your life, doing what you love and being passionate about what you do. That’s having a life of success. When you have the ability to do what you love, love what you do and have the ability to impact people. That’s having a life of success. That’s what having a life of meaning is.” (Tim Teboe)
“Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.” (Johnny Carson)
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SERVICE TO OTHERS
“The only way to achieve true success is to express yourself completely in service to society.” (Aristotle)
“A lot of people believe they are successful because they have everything they want. They have added value to themselves. But I believe significance comes when you add value to others and you can’t have true success without significance.” (John C. Maxwell)
“The man who lives for himself is a failure; the man who lives for others has achieved true success.” (Norman Vincent Peale)
“The highest of distinctions is service to others.” (King George VI)
“The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” (Albert Schweitzer)
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” (Rabindranath Tagore)
“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” (Booker T. Washington)
“All other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.” (Mahatma Gandhi)
“Without service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It’s important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It’s the way in which we ourselves grow and develop.” (Dr. Dorothy Height)
“A life directed chiefly toward the fulfillment of personal desires will sooner or later always lead to bitter disappointment.” (Albert Einstein)
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HARD WORK and DEDICATION for WORTHY VALUES
“True success … is not something you stumble onto or come to by accident. It is something you must sincerely prepare for. Take a good look at successes, and you’ll see the same consistent qualities all the time – qualities of one’s character that make one strive for a goal with a standard of unmatched excellence.” (Reggie Jackson)
“To tend, unfailingly, unflinchingly, towards a goal is the secret of success. But success? What exactly is success? For me it is to be found not in applause, but in the satisfaction of feeling that one is realizing one’s ideal.” (Anna Pavlova)
“The character ethic, which I believe to be the foundation of success, teaches that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.” (Stephen Covey)
“Once you determine that the important results you want are an expression of your life’s purpose, you cannot help but bring drive, dedication, and determination to each day’s efforts. You will be driven to act relentlessly to meet cherished goals, all the while feeling rewarded, satisfied, and even joyful in the process.” (Russell Grieger)
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” (Vince Lombardi)
“The most successful people in absolutely any walk of life know that the secret to their good fortune comes only through dedication, perseverance and diligence. There is no such thing as a short cut that excludes hard work.” (Byron Pulsifer)
“Victories are easy and cheap. The only victories worth anything are those achieved through hard work and dedication.” (Henry Ward Beecher)
“Live your days on the positive side of life, in tune with your most treasured values. And in each moment you’ll have much to live for.” (Ralph Marston)
“If you devote yourself entirely to a noble pursuit, there is no way you cannot find beauty and fulfillment.” (Daniel Gillies)
“Thirteen virtues necessary for true success: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility.” (Benjamin Franklin)
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Following and Serving the Word of God
“True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives – that is, our time and choices – to God’s purposes. In so doing, we permit Him to raise us to our highest destiny.” (D. Todd Christofferson)
“True success is obeying God.” (John C. Maxwell)
“True success in any endeavor can only come when the Father has initiated the activity and invited our participation.” (Priscilla Shirer)
“I can tell you from experience that God’s help and presence in our lives is vital. He is the Author of all true success and everything that is good – without Him, we can do nothing of true value.” (Joyce Meyer)
“We are called to serve; let us make our piety and honor the service! Let us all serve with a good heart and a clear mind; our reward awaits us in heaven above!” (Ernest Agyemang Yeboah)
“Serving God is unlike being a slave for men, because in due time; He will reward you graciously.” (Gift Gugu Mona)
“To know God’s will and deliberately disobey it is to put ourselves above God and therefore become our own god. This is the vilest form of idolatry.” (Warren W. Wiersbe)
“It is within my power either to serve God or not to serve Him. Serving Him, I add to my own good and the good of the whole world. Not serving Him, I forfeit my own good and deprive the world of that good, which was in my power to create.” (Leo Tolstoy)
“God takes that which is nothing and makes something out of it. When you become a Christian, you cannot patch your Christianity onto your old life. You are to start over. Accept God’s call as a promotion. Burn the old bridges and fix it so you cannot go back; then serve God with all your heart.” (Aiden Wilson Tozer)
“It is only serving God that is doing immortal work; it is only living for Christ that is living at all.” (Charles Spurgeon)
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SELF FULFILLMENT/ FULFILLING YOUR POTENTIAL
“You will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal, there really is only one, and that is this: to fulfill the highest most truthful expression of yourself as a human being. You want to max out your humanity by using your energy to lift yourself up, your family, and the people around you.” (Oprah Winfrey
“The greatest achievement of the human spirit is to live up to one’s opportunities and to make the most of one’s resources.” (Vauvenargues)
“The true spiritual secret is this: what you seek, you already are. True success is discovering your inner divinity – it’s the ability to love and have compassion, trust your intuition, and awaken to your unlimited creative nature.” (Deepak Chopra)
“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.” (John Wooden)
“Happiness, in the ancient, noble sense, means self-fulfillment—and is given to those who use to the fullest whatever talents God … bestowed upon them.” (Leo Rosten)
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, an poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization….It refers to man’s desire for self-fulfillment, namely to the tendency for him to become actually in what he is potentially: to become everything one is capable of becoming.” (Abraham Maslow)
“The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.” (Jim Rohn)
“Success is knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.” (John Maxwell)
“Nothing is more rewarding in life than releasing your unlimited potential and leading a creative, purposeful life.” (Robert Anthony)
“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.” (Barack Obama)
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EXPERIENCING FEELINGS AND ATTITUDES OF VALUE
“True success does not always come in forms that are visible or measurable.” (Mike Hernacki)
“I think true success is intrinsic… It’s love. It’s kindness. It’s community.” (Tom Shadyak)
“Success? I don’t know what that word means. I’m happy. But success, that goes back to what in somebody’s eyes success means. For me, success is inner peace. That’s a good day for me.” (Denzel Washington)
“Living our life deeply and with happiness, having time to care for our loved ones – this is another kind of success, another kind of power, and it is much more important.” (Thich Nhat Hanh)
“Success means successful living. When you are peaceful, happy, joyous and doing what you love to do, you are successful.” (Joseph Murphy)
“Life is meant to be fun. If it’s not fun, it’s not worth doing: Be yourself and enjoy life. It’s too short to be miserable” (Self realization quotes)
“Positive thinking is powerful thinking. If you want happiness, fulfillment, success and inner peace, start thinking you have the power to achieve those things. Focus on the bright side of life and expect positive results.” (Germany Kent)
“Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul.”
(Jaime Lyn)
“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” (Ashley Smith)
Happiness, true happiness, is an inner quality. It is a state of mind. If your mind is at peace, you are happy. If your mind is at peace, but you have nothing else, you can be happy. If you have everything the world can give – pleasure, possessions, power – but lack peace of mind, you can never be happy.” (Dada Vaswani)
True Success is Not Simple (and Not Easy)
As the motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar has pointed out, “True success has more components than one sentence or idea can contain.” In short, it can get pretty complicated.
Also, it’s not easy to achieve; and if you are ever going to achieve true success, you are going to have to figure out what it means for yourself, and what actions you will need to take to attain it.
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True Success is often Different for Different Folks
Not everyone sees and understands true success in the same way; and that is one of those things that makes life so fascinating and interesting.
“People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.” (H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)
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True Success is Well Worth Striving For
“There is no paycheck that can equal the feeling of contentment that comes from being the person you are meant to be.” (Oprah Winfrey)
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The $64,000 or Maybe $1,000,000 QUESTION
What does true success mean to you?
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