Do you realize how successful you are?

When we reach our goal, we consider ourselves successful. So, is understanding that we are successful limited to this feeling? Generally, we consider ourselves successful when we achieve our goals. However, the definition and scope of success is not limited to this. You can also be successful in very small details of life and thus increase your own motivation.

Most people define success simply by what they have. For them, having a good house, a good car and living comfortably means being successful.

Of course, material gain is important because staying below a certain income is miserable. Having no money to feed one's stomach means crawling. It is not possible for a person living in bad conditions to talk about success or happiness. But making money isn't the only measure of success. Although having a high income offers a comfortable life, there are more valuable and important issues in life.

The author who best describes how successful a person is in life and how to measure it is Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. According to Chirstensen, there are 9 steps to living and measuring a successful life:

1- As a first step, one must realize what motivates him in life.

For example, if a person who enjoys discovering new places and meeting new people - just because he has a higher income - confines himself to a desk job, he will experience great dissatisfaction. Therefore, finding one's passion is more important than finding a job. First of all, one has to find out what motivates him.

2- Second, a person must set a goal for himself and move forward in line with this goal. In order to be successful, it is essential for a person to stick to the goal he has determined and the path (strategy) that will lead to this goal, despite the difficulties and obstacles that come his way. Because success cannot be achieved without perseverance.

But there are situations when the account at home does not fit the market. Sometimes life throws up such obstacles that it is impossible to overcome them. In such a situation, insisting on the same strategy for the same goal is a waste of resources. As Seneca said, "We may not be able to determine the direction of the wind, but we can change the direction of our ship by adjusting our sails to the wind."

Therefore, every person should try new ways when necessary. When there are very important changes in the conditions he is in or when he comes across very valuable opportunities, every person can set new goals for himself and new ways to reach this goal.

Although it may seem contradictory, in order to be successful, it is necessary to be a determined and patient idealist on the one hand, and a realist who accepts life as it is on the other.

3- The third issue that Christensen recommends we pay attention to is managing the resources we have effectively.

Human resources are not just monetary resources. Humans have resources such as health, time, abilities, knowledge, experience, friends and social relationships.

Most people spend days or even years wasting their most important resource, time. In order for a person to reach the goal he has set for himself, he must effectively mobilize not only his time but also all his resources. Only in this way can he get the chance to reach the goal.

4- The fourth is the time that a person spares for his family and friends. A person is happy to the extent that he spends enough time with his loved ones and spends full time with them. While most people are trying to make a place for themselves in life, to reach a goal, they ignore their loved ones and neglect them.

5- Fifth is the development of human empathy. In both private and business relationships, a person should always act by putting himself in the other person's shoes.

If a person can understand the perspectives of the people with whom he is in a relationship and look at life through their eyes, it opens the doors to being both very successful and very happy.

6- The sixth is to raise one's children correctly. I think the most important responsibility of a person in life - if any - is to educate his children. Every parent has to ensure the physical and mental development of their children within their means, as well as support their spiritual maturation.

Raising children who can stand on their own feet, solve their own problems and improve themselves is one of the most important criteria of being successful in life.

7- In order to be successful, a person must both have certain values ​​and act in accordance with these values.

The abstract concept we call “values” is actually the compass behind our daily decisions. For example, a person who adopts honesty as a value prefers to tell the truth when faced with the dilemma of "making money-hiding the truth". The person who cares about making money does the opposite.

Determining what a person's values ​​are is the starting point. But it is not enough to determine one's values ​​alone. The main thing is to show the determination to apply the values ​​that people embrace without compromising.

The fact that a person behaves in accordance with the values ​​he has chosen as a compass makes him a person who appears as he is, as Mevlana says. Achieving this level is one of the most important measures of success in life.

8- According to Christensen, a very important issue in managing our lives is to be humble. Most people unconsciously walk around with an inflated ego. An inflated ego not only causes one to like himself or exaggerate what he has done, but worse than that, it causes him to devalue and underestimate others.

Being humble is a sign of self-confidence. Moreover, being humble means admitting that one does not know everything and opens the door to learning new things. People with high self-confidence are open to learning regardless of their age or position. People with low self-confidence, on the other hand, miss the opportunity to learn and develop out of fear of being superior to others.

9- As a result of all these, the real measure of a person's success is the benefit he provides to other people, rather than where he has reached himself.

According to Christensen, the measure of a person's success is not the money he has earned or the fame he has achieved, but how much he has contributed positively to other people's lives.

Charles Handy said, “A tombstone showing how many millions of dollars a person in the ground has earned won't impress any of the passers-by. What matters is what he does with the millions he earns.”

There is no value in making a lot of money or being very famous if a person does not make a positive contribution to their family, the people they love, a worthy cause, or the people in need.

True wealth is the positive difference one makes in the lives of others.