In Part 1 of this two-part series (What is Success... *Real* Success? - Part 1 of 2), I shared with you the best definition of success I've ever read. It comes from a book titled "How to Get What You Want" by Wallace D. Wattles. In it he writes: "Getting what you want is success..." Notice, if you will, Wallace D. Wattles did *not* write: "'Having' what you want is success..." Wallace D. Wattles wrote: "*Getting* what you want is success..." The second key word in Wallace D. Wattles' definition of success (see What is Success... *Real* Success? - Part 1 of 2 for the first) is *getting*... *GETTING* what you want is success. "Getting" implies being in the process of, rather than that of having already arrived. In other words, success is a process *not* a result. In his writings, Wallace D. Wattles repeatedly makes the point that the purpose of life for men and women is growth, just as the purpose of life for trees and plants is growth. However... Unlike trees and plants, which grow automatically and along fixed lines, we can grow as we choose. Trees and plants are limited to developing only certain possibilities and characteristics whereas, at an absolute minimum, we can develop any possibility and any characteristic which is or has ever been demonstrated by any other person anywhere. We're formed for growth and under the constant necessity of growing. As a matter of fact, as Wallace D. Wattles also points out in his writings, so strong is this constant necessity for growth that it's absolutely essential to our happiness that we continuously advance. I was recently reminded of this fact after completing a major project upon which I'd been working for months. For many long months I'd toiled day and night putting all the many pieces of the project together and working out hundreds of little related details with the objective of completing the project constantly in mind. When the project was finally finished, instead of feeling happy about it, as one might expect, I actually felt sort of sad, even, for lack of a better term, mildly depressed. Now... Don't get me wrong... I was certainly glad the project was finished, especially knowing that many, many people's lives would be positively impacted forever by its being finished. However... Instead of feeling off the walls excited about it, I felt more like I'd just lost my best friend. I've experienced this same strange phenomenon every single time I've ever gotten anything I really wanted whether it was a house, a new car, more income or just completing a major project. Why? Because, as I've finally come to realize, the true fun and joy in life really come from the getting not the having. A number of years ago, when asked why he was continuously opening new stores when he already had so many, Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's replied: "When you're green you're growing. When you ripen you rot!" Wallace D. Wattles once put it this way: "Life without progress becomes unendurable, and the person who ceases from growth must either become imbecile or insane. The greater and more harmonious and well-rounded his growth, the happier man will be." So... If you're *getting* what *YOU* want... Not getting what I want... Not getting what someone else wants... Not getting what you think you should want because someone else has it... Then... You're a success. For example... If what you really want is to be a teacher and you're in the process of becoming a teacher, you're a success. On the other hand... If what you really want is to be a teacher, but you're a lawyer because that's what your father wanted you to be or because that's what you thought you wanted to be because of the money you'd earn and you're not in the process of becoming a teacher, you're a failure, regardless of how much money you earn, how big your home is or what kind of car you drive! Remember... *GETTING* what *YOU* want is success! If you're absolutely clear about what it is you want, what it is *you* really want, and you're in the process of *getting* it... Then... You're a success, a *real* success, right now - *TODAY*! Copyright 2006 Tony Mase |
