What's Your Measure Of Success?

What's Your Measure Of Success?


It has always been interesting to me that most of us don't really define, in succinct words, success as it applies to us. We usually define it, when pressed, in terms of either money or position in our workplace or industry. Most folks will not say, as Howard Hughes is said to have, that we want to be the richest man in the world. Instead we define success in terms of what money can buy, a big house, a ranch in the mountains, or something similar. Once in a while, someone will define personal success as happiness and a useful life.

In my youth I defined success in terms of happiness and what money could buy, then it changed to being able to support my sweetheart and the children we both wanted and were blessed with, but success was a moving target. When we lived in two rooms, sharing a bath with the landlady's daughter, both of us were happy, we were just as happy when we were renters in a 500 square foot house, and just as happy while we built a 710 square foot house with our hands and the help of friends from our workplace. We still have the handsaws, hammers and other hand operated tools we purchased to do it. If someone had asked me at that time, "Are you successful?" I would have unhesitatingly answered, YES! Then something happened.

As I entered the classroom for my last time in night college courses for Industrial Engineering, the professor asked me to talk with him when class was over. I had straight A's, always sat in the back of the room and participated when my daily experience as a Time Study Engineer seemed capable of adding to the discussion. The professor was also a full time industrial engineer during the day. I liked and respected him.

I now realize that I had three measures of success tucked away in my head. The most up front one, was the happiness of us, as a family. The second was enjoyment and satisfaction in my daily work. The third was one I never spoke to a human about; satisfying the inner voice that had been with me everyday after I told Him, "I will do anything you want me to." Over time it slowly dawned on me that carrying out that promise was the invisible measure of success for me and that helping others to reach their goals, was to be the visible measure.

At the end of class the professor gave me a slip of paper, "Call this man and make an appointment. I have told him you are the one person, who can fill a position he wants to fill."

It was the next task He wanted me to do.