Today's quotation:

Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph.  Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.  If we do our best, we are a success.

Zig Ziglar

Today's Meditation:

If I do the best I possibly can at something, then I've succeeded--no matter what the result.  This is something that wise people have been saying for many, many years--but something that we've been ignoring for just as long.  Success isn't only about winning or getting or triumphing, but about making our best effort and pushing ourselves to the limits of our abilities.

There was an awful ad campaign during the '96 Olympic games that stated:  "You don't win the silver; you lose the gold."  By that standard, there is only one "winner" in each event, even though all of the competitors have beaten great odds just to be there.  All have excelled in their events and have pushed themselves to extraordinary limits just to be there.  And there are thousands of people who did their very best to get to Olympic qualifying rounds, only to be beaten there by other athletes who had better days than they did.

How can we possibly say that they all aren't extremely successful?  They've reached their personal standards, even exceeded them, and have reached for the highest that is within them, the highest of their hearts and spirits.

I don't mind coming in second place or 50th place; I don't mind being passed over for the job; I don't mind not getting recognition for being the "best."  As long as I've done the best that I'm capable of, I'm fine with what I am and what I've accomplished.  I define success for myself, and I set my own personal standards.  And that will help me to be happy and fulfilled my whole life long.

For further thought:

We can think of the times--perhaps only yesterday--when we listened to a friend in need, or finished a task that was nagging at us.  Maybe we made an appointment to begin a project we've been putting off.  Success is taking positive action, nothing more.  Many of us, in our youth, were taught that success only came in certain shapes and sizes.  And we felt like failures.  We need new definitions; it's time to discard the old.

unattributed

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