In his wonderful book, Success is Within You – an oldie but a goodie – Howard Whitman uses an analogy to illustrate a point about what he calls the “two main criteria of success.”
He talked about the straw and the ice cream soda. He says:
“If you want to fully an enjoy an ice-cream soda it is nice to have both. But if you are to have one only, it is certainly far better to have the ice-cream soda than to have only the straw, for the straw is quite worthless alone.”
What is the straw? When other people think you are a BIGG success.
The ice cream? When you feel like a BIGG success.
Other people will place their success criteria on you. But BIGG success is life on your own terms.
It’s all about YOU! It’s singular, individualistic.
And that’s the way it should be.
Only you know (or can know)…
- what makes you happiest
- how you want to spend your most valuable resource, time
- where your passion lies
- what you need to achieve to feel good about yourself
- how you measure success (fame, fortune, status, power, peace of mind)
- what fulfills your purpose
And that’s as it should be.
Because recognition and adulation from others is great. But they are empty on their own.
You’re the supreme judge of your own success. Your opinion is the ice cream soda. It’s the only opinion that really matters.
What does life on your own terms mean to you?
Image in this post from stock.xchng
