How do you measure success? Perhaps by achieving what you set out to do? I think that's appropriate. Certainly it is a much better measure than one determined by others.
And is success an absolute? Can you have a bit of success by achieving part of your goals? That's probably a personal thing, as well as being a reflection of your goal setting tendencies. I know lots of people who never set out to achieve anything, and as such are always successful!
I know for me it generally tends to be black and white. If I decide to do an Ironman, and I quit after 12 hours, I don't have any feelings of success. Of course that's a drastic example because you work for a whole year to prepare, and they only give you the shirt if you cross the finish line. It also occurs to me that with some "softer" goals, such as getting down to 160 lbs, I would still get some gratification if I got close.
So regardless of where today's goals fall onto that continuum, I can say that I was 100% successful. I stated yesterday that I would take today completely off in preparation for my long run tomorrow, and I achieved it. And while my heart has been a bit squirrely a few times today, for the most part it has settled down. So much so that tomorrow's goal is to run 30 kms in the sunshine. I'm pretty confident about the sunshine, and pretty nervous about the 30 kms. And indeed if the first comes true, and I don't achieve the second, I'm probably not gonna call it a success. Wish me luck!
Oh, and I almost forgot. The scales said 170.5 this morning. Not much progress, which isn't a surprise considering the number of apple fritters I've eaten over the past month!
...and just when I thought I was sounding pretty smart, along comes Albert to straighten me out...
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."---Albert Einstein
...touche Albert...
Also.
"Live long and prosper"---Mr Spock
Love
Peter
And is success an absolute? Can you have a bit of success by achieving part of your goals? That's probably a personal thing, as well as being a reflection of your goal setting tendencies. I know lots of people who never set out to achieve anything, and as such are always successful!
I know for me it generally tends to be black and white. If I decide to do an Ironman, and I quit after 12 hours, I don't have any feelings of success. Of course that's a drastic example because you work for a whole year to prepare, and they only give you the shirt if you cross the finish line. It also occurs to me that with some "softer" goals, such as getting down to 160 lbs, I would still get some gratification if I got close.
So regardless of where today's goals fall onto that continuum, I can say that I was 100% successful. I stated yesterday that I would take today completely off in preparation for my long run tomorrow, and I achieved it. And while my heart has been a bit squirrely a few times today, for the most part it has settled down. So much so that tomorrow's goal is to run 30 kms in the sunshine. I'm pretty confident about the sunshine, and pretty nervous about the 30 kms. And indeed if the first comes true, and I don't achieve the second, I'm probably not gonna call it a success. Wish me luck!
Oh, and I almost forgot. The scales said 170.5 this morning. Not much progress, which isn't a surprise considering the number of apple fritters I've eaten over the past month!
...and just when I thought I was sounding pretty smart, along comes Albert to straighten me out...
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."---Albert Einstein
...touche Albert...
Also.
"Live long and prosper"---Mr Spock
Peter
Awesome quotes.
ReplyDeleteI think that success varies by day, and you have to keep it all in perspective. Sometimes just getting out of bed in the morning means one has had a successful day. Y'know? That invisible, cultural line of "Success" keeps moving higher and higher as we accomplish more and more.
Love,
Michael