Beech Tree News Network

The Kentucky Wildcats have had an awesome year. John Calipari's team had a 31-0 record in the regular season, then went on to win the SEC tournament last weekend, changing their record to 34-0. They have certainly been successful by anyone’s definition. Success means different things to different people, but it is often defined as the accomplishment of one's goals.

In his last book Born to Win! Find Your Success Code, Zig Ziglar shared his ideas about success (http://success.com/article/the-definition-of-success). He believed that success includes such things as having a home and people to love, being able to meet your monthly financial obligations, having the faith to know where to turn in trying circumstances, and knowing you did a good job at the end of the day. Ziglar did not believe that success is all work and no play. These concepts make sense to me.

Many others have expressed their thoughts about success. Some of those are listed below (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_success.html):
•    The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. --Vince Lombardi
•    Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. --Winston Churchill
•    Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. --David Frost
•    Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. --Albert Schweitzer
•    I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed. --Michael Jordan
•    You don't have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream. --Michael Dell
•    The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people. --Theodore Roosevelt

Since success means different things to different people, I asked friends and family how they measure success in their lives or how they know they’ve been successful. Their responses are below:
•    A happy family with all their needs met.
•    I strive for success every day. It is like success is a target you are always trying to hit and you never know if you have been successful until after the fact. For example, when you realize that your children were listening when you told them to say please and thank you because they teach their children to do the same. So, success to me –regardless of all the things I’ve done wrong – is that I have influenced my children and perhaps others to be productive adults and in turn, they will pay it forward.
•    I’ve been successful in my marriage, I guess, since we’ll be married 40 years this year. I also feel like I have been successful in bringing up a daughter with good values and morals. She’s also very loving and compassionate, and maybe that was partly my doing. I just know that I’ve been very blessed with my family and home.
•    The less stress and more money, the happier I am.
•    I know I’ve been successful when I feel happy with what I’ve accomplished. When I don’t do well on an exam, I stress and think about how I could have done better and think about all the questions I missed and why. I feel like I’ve been successful in everything I do when I feel content and happy with the way things turned out.
•    Peace and happiness.
•    I’m successful when I keep myself close to the Lord. I’m happier with myself and feel more blessed and content with my life.
•    I define success (in a narrow, specific goal) as attaining a desired outcome in an objective or pursuit. I define being successful (in a broader context) as maintaining balance in experiencing love, prosperity, peace, and healthy living.
•    Some things are given indicators of success (happy home, money to pay bills, peace within). I define success for myself as the degree to which I can facilitate success in those around me: family, friends, and community.
•    I think I have several measures of success – happy home, being debt free with money for retirement, and raising happy, healthy children who grow up to be happy Christians. (Then I also have some goals for weight/health that I will feel successful in when I finally meet them!)
•    I feel successful that I’m not dead yet!
•    I feel successful when I am able to meet the needs of my family and the demands of my career, and still find time for entertainment and relaxation.
•    I measure my success by the success of my students, the happiness of my husband and daughter, and how much I do for others.
•    I measure my success by 32 years of marriage to my high school sweetheart, two grown children who are both in happy marriages and attend church, a granddaughter, a grandson on the way, and looking forward to many more.

Arnold Glasgow once commented on success, saying, “Do what's right, the right way, at the right time.” This is good advice. As the Kentucky Wildcats’ near the end of the season, let’s hope their current success continues into the NCAA Tournament. Go Big Blue!