Defining Success…is it an Oscar?
The Academy Awards were held last Sunday night. This is a night when people all over the world tune in to see who the academy deems “best.” There are awards for almost every category imaginable from technology to music to script writing/adaptation. I, like many teen/middle age girls/women, like seeing the “movie stars” all together in one room. The fashion. The ego. The botox. It really is a spectacle.
I usually get caught up in cheering for my favorite film to pummel all of the other worthless ones. But this year was different. I have only seen a few movies in the last year and out of this years nominees, I did not have a favorite. This granted me a new perspective. I just watched neutrally. And my thoughts went from, “it must be amazing to win an Oscar!” to “what is it like to work so hard, be nominated, then lose?” Well, it all depends on your definition of…
Success. Recently, I have been learning that how we define success has a larger impact on our lives that just about any other definition. For example, the question: “did you have a successful day?” For someone with a terminal illness, success is seeing the morning. For a CEO, it’s profitability and productivity. For a person serving meals at a homeless shelter, it’s one less person that will go to bed hungry.
It is not my intention to insinuate that certain definitions are right and certain ones are wrong. But many times the way we define success in our hearts doesn’t end up being the way we define it with our lives. Too often my definition involves what others think about me or my actions. In the case of the Oscars, do I realize that just being nominated is an honor that most (99.99%) will never know? Or do I dwell on the fact that I was not chosen? Am I only a success if I win? Whose approval am I trying to win? Why do I care?
As an artist or creative or human being, our definition of success is enormous. My question for you (and me) is: what’s your definition of success? are you staying true to living and working in that? how can we stay there/get back to there?
Good luck…I’m right there with you…
-lewis
I hope The measure would sound a bit like this: “Well done good and faithful servant” Sometimes we get caught up in the worldly and forget completely about the measure of success we have been asked to complete. And truthfully I would hope to never be recognized on this earth so as my ego would die to self and be reborn in His image. That would be the pinnacle of success in my opinion, for what that’s worth. jw