Written by: Mary Solis, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Success is not a one-size fits all destination, and it’s riddled with challenges, failures, and setbacks. Identifying major success indicators can help you know if you’re on the right track to your success.
What does it mean when someone is successful, and how do you know if you're one of them? Most attribute success to financial stability or wealth. Others adopt a more holistic view and associate success with happiness in various aspects of life – career, relationships, health, and personal development. While there is no one-size-fits all, right or wrong meaning of success, I think we can all agree that success really boils down to what you value most in life and where you stand with those values.
Regardless of our success goals, it's evident that most successful people exhibit certain skills and qualities that most of us are still trying to work out. These include effective communication, adaptability, and determination, to name a few. What I don’t read about too often is self-empowerment and its relationship with success. Self-empowerment means taking charge of your future and destiny by making deliberate and conscious actions toward what you want. When you're empowered to succeed, you don't live life passively or allow others to dictate your future or the person you become. There are certain indicators we can identify that tell us if we are indeed living with self-empowerment to turn our dreams for success into reality.
What Is True Success?
True success is more than wealth or fame. It's individual to each person, depending on what matters most to them at any time. For some, it may be the ability to travel the world, while others see it as establishing solid relationships or nurturing creative aspirations. One thing is certain – you'll know when you've reached your true meaning of success when you feel joy, gratification, and pride in the area of life that you most value.
To define our path to true success, we must look within ourselves first and foremost.
True success requires self-awareness. It means being honest about what you want from life and why you want it. This involves identifying internal motivations and understanding external influences that impact these desires, like family dynamics or societal pressures such as conformity.
10 Indicators Of Success And Empowerment
Once you've identified your true meaning of success, there are indicators to let you know you're on the right path towards self-empowerment and, ultimately, success. Let's dive into the ten best success indicators.
Having a clear purpose: Having clarity around why you want to achieve something allows you to set meaningful goals, prioritize what needs your attention, make smarter decisions, and stay motivated. It can also help you develop new skills and create positive habits over time. A clear purpose in life provides direction towards meaningful achievements that lead to greater fulfillment. Simply put, having a clear understanding of our objectives transforms abstract concepts eventually into actionable plans that we can use as guidance along the journey of growth and achievement.
Building meaningful relationships: Strong bonds and connections with others are essential for creating an atmosphere of support, growth, and healthy self-esteem. Relationships help us to be understood by others while allowing us to give love and kindness in return. A genuine connection gives you the opportunity to offer emotional safety and trust – something that will bring great joy, success, and empowerment into your life. Through these meaningful relationships, we can find purpose and learn valuable lessons about ourselves. A supportive network can also play an essential part in developing values like responsibility and tolerance for differences, as well as provide opportunities for growth and development in different aspects of life.
Taking calculated risks: Taking risks may seem daunting because of the potential for failure, but taking risks is essential for self-empowerment and success because it provides lessons, opportunities for growth and creativity. It’s important to note the difference between risks and calculated risks. Calculated risks are those whose chances for failure have been considered and limited. This not only minimizes the fear of failure, but it provides a sense of self-empowerment because, despite the unwanted results from possible failure, your very act of making the decision to take the risk empowers you to pave your own path in pursuit of success. Despite the win or the loss, taking the risk will still lead you to growth and new opportunities.
Pursuing personal growth: Personal growth is the process of continuous learning, self-improvement, and development. It often means setting ambitious goals and pushing past our comfort zones to achieve them. It involves engaging in opportunities to learn new skills, develop new character traits, and challenge ourselves to develop new abilities while consciously heeding the lessons. Personal growth helps us gain self-confidence, cultivate resilience, increase adaptability, and foster a sense of fulfillment inall areas of life.
Cultivating a positive mindset: A positive outlook gives you the ability to look at challenging situations as opportunities for growth. It enables us to remain hopeful and inspired despite setbacks, yet still maintain realistic expectations. A positive perspective opens our minds to new possibilities and creative solutions. It increases our resilience, broadens our social networks, and enhances creativity in problem-solving. With a positive mindset, it’s easier to see the positives from an undesired outcome making it easier to move on and progress towards your goals.
Being able to think outside the box: Innovative thinking separates truly successful individuals from those who remain stagnant. Thinking outside the box requires a person to be open-minded, creative, and analytical when approaching issues and opportunities. Innovative thinking can solve complex problems more efficiently, and develop new approaches and conclusions to ensure success in all areas of life. Thinking outside the box helps you find resources and unique solutions when others would resort immediately to standard answers. This allows you to stand out professionally amidst the competition and enjoy personal successes in other areas of your life.
Investing in yourself: Investing in yourself is about consciously developing yourself into a more experienced and skilled individual. It can mean different things to different people, but generally, it means taking time out and putting effort into improving yourself. This can involve creating healthier habits, pursuing personal growth opportunities, or investing financially in long-term projects. When you invest in yourself, you not only expand your skills and knowledge. You also cultivate self-worth and self-empowerment.
Balancing work and life: Balancing work and life has become a real challenge in today's fast-moving society. Our lives can easily become dominated by long hours, burnout, and stress; however, achieving work-life balance is essential because it avoids excessive focus on only one part of our life. This involves finding ways to manage your time effectively, which requires conscious and deliberate effort mixed in with self-reflection. When you are aware of where you’re spending most of your energy and time, and the mental, emotional, and physical effects it has on you, you can better understand how to tip the scale to find that perfect point of balance in your life.
Cultivating self-discipline: When you have self-discipline, you’re able to commit to your goals and do what's necessary to reach them without being derailed by unnecessary distractions or impulses. Self-discipline is the basis for self-empowerment because it allows you to stick to your game plan and make conscious decisions to succeed. Those with self-discipline are happier and more fulfilled because they ultimately see the success of their efforts. Cultivating self-discipline involves knowing your strengths and weaknesses, creating a strategic plan towards your goals, then executing them daily while developing good habits, self-forgiveness, and realistic expectations.
Giving back to the community: With life's demands and high competition, we get so focused on ensuring our survival and success that we forget about our ability to help others who can benefit from our knowledge, care, and service. Giving to others helps us cultivate meaningful relationships, gives us an incredible sense of fulfillment, and empowers us to understand ourselves better and where we fit in our society and the world. Simple acts of kindness don't just feed the soul, it also allows you to see your societal impact at play and reminds you that you have much more to offer than you realize. Giving back fosters feelings of gratitude, which leads to empowerment, success, and happiness.
The Double-Edged Indicator Of Success: Failure
Failure is often seen as something to be avoided at all costs. However, it is through failure that we truly learn and grow. How you respond to failure can make or break your self-empowerment and, ultimately, your success. Some people see failure as constructive feedback and an opportunity for growth, while others consider it harsh criticism that eventually prevents them from further pursuing their goals; thus, it’s considered as the double-edged success indicator.
Being resilient during challenging times is difficult, especially when results lead to failure. Fear of failure is natural, but if it's causing anxiety and fear that prevents action towards your desired outcome, then it's not being used for its opportunity potential. On the other hand, embracing failure as an opportunity for growth and learning can propel you forward with new insights and knowledge about yourself and your current situation. When we let fear and anxiety from failure overtake us, it kills our self-confidence and robs us from the self-empowerment of creating the life we want to live.
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." – Henry Ford
It's a fact that most successful and iconic people have had their fair share of failures before their big debut. They would say that failure is essential to success, and you're only on the right path if you fail first! For example, Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before perfecting the electric light bulb. Walt Disney was told he ‘lacked imagination and had no good ideas’. Author JK Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers for “Harry Potter” before it became an international best seller. Apple icon Steve Jobs was fired before he went on to creatively innovate some of the greatest tech devices of our times. The list goes on.
Asides from being an opportunity for growth, failure can serve another purpose. It can serve as a reality check on your true meaning of success. Most people initially feel disappointment, anger, or anxiety in response to failure. This is a good thing because it tells you that you still care about the thing that failed, and your goals for success are still aligned with what you want and value. If, on the other hand, you feel relief and glad that the failure happened, then somewhere along the way, your goals have changed to where you no longer want what you were previously pursuing. In either case, overcoming and learning from failure is essential to move on to either pivoting your approach or reassessing your values for true success.
How To Overcome And Learn From Failure
Learning and moving on from failure is easier said than done. What if you need help figuring out what went wrong or are having difficulty moving forward? Consider these steps to learn and overcome failure.
Reflect on the failure. Take time to understand what went wrong and why it happened. Take responsibility when it's due, but try to look at the event from a third-person objective point of view to prevent negative emotions from clouding the analysis. When it's not apparent, take time to break down the event and identify any patterns or recurring issues that may have contributed to the mistake. Do some self-reflection to understand where you are now after the failure to help you identify the next necessary steps. By looking closely at your circumstances, goals become more transparent and achievable as long-term objectives can be broken down into smaller actionable pieces.
Seek feedback from others to help you get a different perspective. This is especially helpful when you get stuck with analyzing what happened. Keep an open mind and welcome constructive feedback to help you overcome self-limiting thoughts and beliefs about yourself and the situation.
Improve your strategy and approach based on your insights and analysis of the failure to prevent similar errors from happening again. Brainstorm ideas and alternatives to unlock creativity and develop innovative and effective solutions to the problem.
Look for learning opportunities. This could involve learning new skills, expanding your knowledge, or learning more about yourself and others involved. Learning from failure becomes easier when you are ready to forgive yourself and you cultivate a growth mindset to overcome negative emotions. With a growth mindset, you are eager to learn and challenge yourself because you understand that mistakes are beneficial for learning.
Celebrate Small Wins. This simple yet powerful practice has been proven to reduce stress, boost motivation, increase engagement, and create momentum towards even bigger successes. No matter how small, every achievement is another step closer to achieving your goals. Celebrating these accomplishments helps us recognize our efforts and acknowledge that our hard work paid off, which builds confidence and strengthens motivation. It is essential to be intentional about this practice and make it an integral part of your journey towards success.
Work with a mentor or professional to help you get unstuck in negative emotions or thinking. If you're having difficulty reflecting or moving on, it's a clear sign you need some helpful guidance – and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that! A professional coach or practitioner can help you reframe negative thoughts to regulate emotions, cultivate a positive outlook, and manage fear. Reframing negative beliefs helps us break down limiting barriers, see new opportunities and gain the confidence to act on them. This is usually done by questioning the validity of our negative ideas and replacing them with more empowering statements or affirmations.
Remember that making mistakes is a natural part of growth and progress. By embracing our mistakes, taking responsibility, and using them as learning opportunities, we can navigate challenges more effectively and be self-empowered to take the necessary actions that bring us closer to success.
Conclusion
Knowing your values and what makes you happy and fulfilled is a great way to paint your picture of success. While the journey may not be straightforward, knowing the indicators for success is helpful in cultivating empowerment to live your life on purpose. Failure should be regarded as opportunities for growth, learning, and change that can propel us forward in life; however, when the weight of failure is too heavy to overcome, it's vital to incorporate steps to move past any lingering negative emotions or thoughts that can potentially dampen your motivation and determination to succeed. Life is a journey, and as you experience new things, grow, and adapt, your meaning of success will change with you. As long as you continue to be true to yourself, you will be empowered to make the right choices to attain true success in your life.
Read more from Mary!
Mary Solis, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Mary Solis is a registered pharmacist, certified health coach, and founder of Nexia Wellness. She received her Pharmacy Doctorate from the University of Washington in Seattle. She considers herself a holistic health advocate, with the belief that you can only achieve optimal well-being with a synergistic approach of both conventional medicine and holistic practices. This belief led to the development of Nexia Wellness, a platform that connects people with professionals who utilize whole-person healing through mind, body, and spirit. Mary has special interests in functional medicine, self-development, and spirituality.
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