We’re all trained to strive for success. We build our lists of accomplishments, and collect our trophies of triumph. We revel in the praise and accolades we’ve received and try to be bigger and better than we are right now.
As we grind away on the treadmill we look to those who made it out. We look at our idols, those we look up to, and those we aspire to be. We look at the rock stars, CEOs, the insta famous, and sometimes our parents or friends that appear to live the lives we dream of and have succeeded where we haven’t yet.
Our efforts to achieve success are built upon a foundation of falsehoods. The metrics we use to gauge success are built upon a foundation of falsehoods. Do you even know why you’re striving for success in the areas you’re working so hard at? Sure, you can build a successful company, brand, social media presence, rock band, etc… with dedication, goal-setting, sweat and grit. You can achieve everything you set out to. You can be successful in every area of life without actually achieving success and you’ll know it when you still feel empty inside after being successful.
There is only one way to actually experience success and when you achieve it, it’s eternal, undeniable and builds from the ground up ensuring that everything you do a success. True success is only achieved by fully understanding who you are and never compromising your identity or values under any circumstances. The difficult lies is in the first part, understanding who you are. From birth we are bombarded with external views, opinions, circumstances, expectations, deceit, and lies which we internalize. We slowly lose the identities and values we were born with as we try to adjust to the paradigms imposed upon us.
Understanding who you are is a long, arduous journey and it requires a lot of internal work. You have to untangle all of your feelings, desires, behaviors and actions to really understand which ones really come from you and which ones have been assumed throughout your life. As you do this you have to, and will want to start cleaning your internal house. Being yourself is something you can’t fail at. You were born to do it. When you can successfully do what you were born to do, which is to be exactly who you truly are, then you’ve succeeded at everything. Don’t forget, you are awesome. You were born awesome. Go be awesome!
