The beauty of success is that you can define it however you want. Success is what you determine it to be. No one can define it for you. Besides, that wouldn't be authentic or very motivating. Success is an internal sensation, an internal feeling of accomplishment or contentment.
Success always eluded me as a young kid, or at least I thought it did. I was the one in school who had to work hard for everything. Nothing came easy. And still, as an adult it seems like everything I have came as a result of blood, sweat and tears.
I realized, not too long ago, that I never defined success for myself. My opinion of success changed with whomever I was comparing myself to that day. Eventually, I got wise -- er, frustrated -- and defined it for myself. I decided that I would be the creator of my own destiny and not leave it to the Joneses.
Something I learned along the way, while defining success, was that intention is key to creating your destiny. Intention is setting the sails in the direction you want your boat to go. It's one thing to board the barge. It's a whole 'nother knowing where you want to end up.
In other words, intention is how success becomes attainable. It makes it possible! It gives you wings. It sustains you with vision. It represents your why.
Intention is energy. And as with magnets, like attracts like. When you set an intention, you're letting the universe and all its inhabitants know your mission and you're sending open invites to all opportunities, open doors and partners to join you for the ride.
The great thing about intention is that you can always gauge your actions against it. If you feel aligned with your original intention, you know you're headed toward your idea of success. If you don't feel aligned, reevaluate where you're headed... and who's doing the steering.
I ended up defining success as "being at peace with who I am in this life, and having the freedom to enjoy it." And I'm now pointing my sails. The water gets choppy and the distance gets exhausting, but I'm not getting off this boat until I get there.
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