I've been thinking a lot lately about success, and what it means to succeed at something, and the different ways that success can be measured. This little chart is from Beki at The Rusted Chain, and I find it to be very insightful. For the past year or so I have been trying to get a business venture off the ground. I have learned a lot, worked a lot, grown some new gray hair, had lots of fun, met some great people, cried some, yelled a little, and lost a lot of sleep. All of the above continue in some fashion almost every day. Some experts say that it takes a good two years of dedicated effort (not to mention oodles of money and guts) to see if your business has wings. I've also read a lot about The Gladwell Rule (that's Malcolm Gladwell - he's a genius in my book, and also clever and funny - he's awesome!), which says that 10,000 hours is what it takes to reach the success threshold in whatever endeavor you are pursuing, be it an art, a sport, a career, a business venture, or what have you. And of course the road to success is almost never smooth. Those so-called over-night successes usually have lots of back-story that is less than glamorous and sometimes downright ugly.So here I am, somewhere near what I think is the 13-mile mark of what I hope will become my success marathon. I pray every day for the motivation, the energy, the stamina, the strength, the courage, the good judgment, the financing, the patience, the creative juice, and the guts to keep going. Stay the course... that's what they say, and it's what I am trying to do. So if you are out there running a marathon of your own, let me hear your story. Maybe we can help each other keep going. I hear the view from the top is out of this world. I'll let you know if/when I get there. Here's hoping.
"Success is simple: do what's right, in the right way, at the right time." —Arnold Glasgow
"Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be." —George Sheehan
