Successful Living > Real Life Lessons > Success Is Personal

Success Is Personal
by CV Doner, PhD

Do you consider yourself a successful person? Unfortunately, many people who are actually quite successful in areas that count (that even they themselves consider important) don't "see" themselves as "successful." That happens whenever we allow others or our spiritually shallow materialistic culture define what it means to be successful.

In our consumerist, materialist, hedonistic culture, success is usually defined as "having more wealth than God." Or never looking older than thirty, or being a celebrity, or having an SUV, RV, BMW, M.D., MBA, PhD, owning your own business, or…you fill in the blank.

Unfortunately, people who have obtained these popular symbols of success often sacrifice true wealth along the way. They become so focused on our culture's reductionist rules of success (i.e., money, fame, career) that they forget friends, family, and often their own health: spiritual, mental, and physical.

In reality, a person is truly successful when they can consistently experience the values or personal "rules" they have determined will define their life (these values become the essence that infuses their life with meaning).

If you are following God's Rules for successful living, you will value success with your family, as a spouse and partner, as a son or daughter, as a brother or sister. You'll desire success as a friend, as well as a mentor, as an active participant in your church and community and in cultivating the spiritual values that will allow you to lead a God-empowered life.

You'll also value success at "growing" your mind, and keeping your emotions and your body healthy. If on top of all this, your career and finances are also successful, that's the icing on the cake. But it's only the icing; don't mistake it for the cake.