I was honored to recently interview my friend and fellow coach and trainer, Pete Winiarski. Pete teaches methods and processes to help people achieve their goals. Without these things, Pete says, our goals require brute force, which is rarely sustainable and often leads to burn out. I agree.
Pete is a lifelong student of the science of success, and founder of two great success resources, DearGodLetter.com and i-Saga.net.
On i-Saga.net, Pete uses one of his methods – and interviews amazing people each week, getting their insight on success. So we got together and talked about the REAL definition of success.
What is Success?
Before Pete started doing his interviews, his definition of success was achieving his goals. It sounds simple, and it worked for him.
As he performed interview after interview, he learned the vast differences in how people viewed and defined success.
  • For one person, success was always improving – doing things faster and better than he’d done them before. 
  • For another person, success was simply waking up each day breathing.
There’s always a context behind a person’s definition – the woman who shared success was simply waking up each morning had recently battled a disease that threatened her life.
So it’s important to remember that each person has their own definition of success, and it’s dictated by what they’ve experienced in life.
 
What Success Means To You…
Success is a simple concept, but if you asked most people what success is, they probably would not know how to answer.
You can find out what success means to you by asking yourself. Take some time to sit down and write out what’s important to you. You’ll probably start with some of the symbols of success we’ve been programmed to want – the car, the house, the job, etc.
When you get past the external orientations of success – those things you can see and touch – you’ll dig into the internal orientations that mean so much more – like love, joy and service to others.
It’s possible that you can go through life and acquire the external trappings of success yet never have the internal sense of success.
However, when you create internal success, the external success usually follows.
How to Have Success
Pete generously shared some suggestions on how to have success in life:
  • Get clarity. Clarity is a big magnet for your unconscious mind. Most people are clear on what they don’t want, but not what they do – so they keep attracting what they don’t want. Get clear on what you want. 
  • Know yourself. Understand who you are, what you want and what’s important to you. Without these components, it’s hard to be successful. 
  • Avoid bad habits. If you want to lose weight, you’ve got to avoid things that put weight on…like sugar. TV is another habit that can be avoided and replaced with empowering activities like reading and plugging into other types of positive programs…like Pete’s interviews. 
  • Meditate – It’s the number one exercise super successful people do consistently.
Here’s to your success, however you define it! ~SS