Success Factors

Success is as much about who we are as a person as it is about the environment in which we operate. Our core beliefs, abilities and skills, as well as our attitude, persistence, determination and ego (self-esteem and degree of humility) all serve as critical factors in our degree of success. One person enters the world with a multitude of gifts and talents, intelligence and every advantage life could provide— good family, financial resources, access to the best education money can buy—yet fails to achieve. Another person enters the world lacking everything and through dreams and goals, hard work and determination, vision and perspiration, builds a business, generates wealth, and has a rich family and spiritual life.

The biggest determinant of success is our attitude toward it. If we believe that success is worth working for then we are more likely to pursue it. If success is something that we “expect” or feel we are “entitled” to then it usually proves to be elusive. You may look around and see many successes you perceive as undeserving, people who have not put in nearly the effort nor “paid the dues” necessary to reach the pinnacle of success they have achieved… but look behind that success. Pull back the curtain and look behind the scenery and see if you find something that is real, or if it will be lasting. Success without effort and work, without an infrastructure of support, does not last. The edges of the fabric fray. The picture fades. The fame and recognition succumb to the reality of the emptiness of that “success.”

Fame and fortune do not make you successful. Fame and fortune come as a result of goals, purposeful action, and a focus on results. True riches come sometimes with fame and fortune, but some of the happiest people I have ever known are not rich in material things, but they are rich in family, relationships with others and God.They have enough for their physical needs and share the rest as they can. They give to God and support causes that are important to them. They know the value of money and its place in their lives.

Proverbs 30:8 – 9 (NKJV)
8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me;
Give me neither poverty nor riches—
Feed me with the food allotted to me;
9Lest I be full and deny You,
And say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or lest I be poor and steal,
And profane the name of my God.

Money has a purpose, which is determined by the person engaged in its use. It can be used for good or evil. It can bless or it can destroy. Success, when measured solely in monetary terms, is an empty harvest of which you can never have “enough.” Real, lasting success is measured by what you accomplish, whom you help and what you build up. Monetary wealth garnered through real success can be “enough” because it is a means, and not an end.

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