Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) June/July 2020 Aspire Magazine FULL Issue | Page 20
...success has to
do with having a
purpose in life, a
goal, a vision, a
dream that lights
you up…something
that makes you want
to spring out of bed
in the morning.
slightly different than any of them. I share
the three keys here.
First, I believe that success has to do with
having a purpose in life, a goal, a vision,
a dream that lights you up…something
that makes you want to spring out of bed
in the morning. Success to me doesn’t
necessarily even have to do with achieving
that goal or dream but simply picking a
dream that’s worthy of you, that uses your
God-given talents, that make your heart
sing—and you start moving towards it. The
late great Earl Nightingale, one of the fathers
of New Thought said that “success is the
progressive realization of a worthy idea or
goal.” In other words…Success is a journey,
not a destination.
If we defined success by the moment of
achievement, then we would be living these
sorry lives waiting for that moment to arrive.
Then we’d experience that moment and
soon it would be over and the glow would be
gone. In fact, research has shown that when
people achieve something that they believed
was going to make them feel successful like
having a best-selling book or getting the part
in the movie or receiving a big promotion, over
75% said that they felt either disappointed or
even depressed soon after because the thrill
of the journey was over.
If your success were predicated on arriving at
a destination, you might have the same type
of experience my dear friend and business
partner of many years, Marci Shimoff had
when she thought she would feel successful
when she became an author rock star.
Marci often tells the story of how, for as long
as she could remember, she had wanted
to be a bestselling author and renown
speaker. She shares that she was “born
with existential angst” and “had never been a
happy camper” and thought the achievement
of this goal would bring her the fulfillment
and self-acceptance she was longing for.
Her dream came true one day in 1996 when
Chicken Soup for the Women’s Soul soared
to the top spot on the NY Times bestseller
list and she was speaking to a group of
5,000 at the Hyatt Hotel in Chicago. She
said that she had received a standing
ovation and then signed over 3000 books.
The promoters had to hire a masseuse to
massage her hand every few minutes so
she could keep signing!! Everything she had
dreamed of had become a reality….
And when the last book was signed and
the last congratulations were spoken, she
went upstairs to her room, which happened
to be the presidential suite. As she looked
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www.AspireMAG.net | June / July 2020