Remember those tests at school? Not the sitting down in those cold hard plastic chairs, sharpened HB pencils, and writing examinations. No, those dreaded memories always were followed up with the joyous bragging or crestfallen sheepish jokes about the grades we all received. 50’s, 70’s 90’s, A’s, B’s, or even F’s. Allocations designed to grade us against our fellows. And therein lies the problem. Pass or fail were set criteria. But set by someone else.
Achieving a passing grade was commonplace, even the “average” grade was a comparison against other people. People of different interests, different skills, different intellects. We spend the first 20 years of our life chasing after someone else’s definition of success.
And then suddenly we are thrust out into the world. And if grade point averages meant next to nothing before, they mean even less now.
"I had failed, because I failed to define success."
I can remember those hours of studying I never did. I remember buying the text books I never opened, the classes never attended. All because I defined “success” by someone else’s standard. Looking back now, all I did was fail. Sure, I took that passing grade, but that wasn’t enough. I had failed, because I failed to define success.
Define success by what that means to you. If that is in an academic setting, perhaps that means success is achieving X% above, or below a pre-assigned “acceptable” level. What did that look like for me? I was disinterested in some of the mandatory language courses, so success for me was achieving a 70% or above. But math on the other hand, I could only consider myself successful if I achieved 83% or above. That was my definition of success.
Financially that could mean making enough to support a family, own a property, take a vacation, dine at upscale restaurants. Physically this could be a certain weight or body fat percentage, a certain time on the track, the number of plates on the rack. In your career maybe it’s reaching a certain level, earning $ X amount, or having an impact in your field. No matter the category, this is your measure.
So I implore you to sit down and reflect. Think about what is important to you. Set your own limits, decide what success and failure looks like to you. And then work like hell to make sure you achieve your successes.