You Are a Success

There are many definitions for success. One of the most common is the achievement of something desired, planned or attempted. For many folks, losing twenty-three pounds and looking fit equals success.

But here's my take on success:

Success is what people remember you by. It's the picture they have of you after you've left. It's the impression you give off during your time together. And it's either going to leave them feeling good about you, or not.

So when you help a grocery shopper pick up her bags after she accidentally rolled her shopping cart off the sidewalk-you are a success. You feel good about yourself. She feels good about you.

But if you go postal after someone cuts you off on the freeway exit-you are also a success. How? Because you've successfully achieved something you desired, planned and attempted.

Of course going postal may not have been your original goal. Exiting the freeway was. Yet you succeeded at both.

Now you might not agree going postal is successful. And I'm with you. On the surface, it's not. But on a deeper level, it's something people will successfully remember you by.

Let's make it our goal NOT to leave a negative impression. Let's work harder on ourselves so people will remember positive things about us. Let's become someone that's above reproach. Let us become the kinds of success people gravitate toward.

Here are my three quick keys to success:

1) You are a success if you try. That's simple enough. Try your hand at something new. Something daring. Something unusual. Something provocative.

On my first flight at the age of four, I was hit with a big dose of airsickness. From then on I had a misguided fear of flying. Years later, flying to Nevada with a friend on business pushed that fear into a corner.

Later that same friend tricked me into boarding on a plane by myself. He said he took an earlier flight, but was actually waiting for me at one of the Airporter stops. Whew! Today I can fly anywhere. I've succeeded in overcoming my fear because I've tried.

2) You are a success if you fail. On the surface this sounds illogical-but failure is part of the success formula. Failing is only an outcome. It's not your final goal. If you have to, you keep failing until you get the outcome you want.

If you lost 25 pounds in six months but your starting goal was 50-are you a failure? The answer is no. You didn't reach your goal (losing 50 pounds) but I'm telling you, people are going to notice you and think you're a success.

They're going to shower you with compliments even though you think you've failed. But you didn't really fail. You just didn't reach your desired outcome. True failure comes to play when you don't even try.

3) You are a success if you try again. If you tried it once, you can try it again. And then once again. Hopefully you'll get better with each attempt.

I made my first batch of cinnamon buns from scratch. To be honest with you, they didn't look like the buns you'd find at the donut shop. They came out of the oven mini-sized and some of the sugar and cinnamon seeped to the bun bottoms and hardened.

They weren't appealing yet I brought five of the best looking ones to an afternoon business meeting. The ladies in that group were pleasantly surprised that I would try anything like this. They ate them up and gave me some encouraging words.

I'm not giving up. I guarantee my cinnamon buns will look and taste better the next time around. I want people to insist mine tastes better than the donut shop's.

Being a success is more than achieving your goals and desires. It's the picture people have of you. Paint a positive picture of you and you'll always remain a success in everyone's eyes.

Tommy Yan helps business owners and entrepreneurs make more money through direct response marketing. He publishes Tommy's Tease weekly e-zine to inspire people to succeed in business and personal growth. Get your free subscription today at http://www.TommyYan.com.

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