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We get snookered in our culture into believing that "success" looks like one thing: money, fame, grand achievement that lands you in
a) Time
b) Newsweek
c) People Magazine
d) your own reality TV show.
I think that in our focus on achieving our long-term "dreams" - be it selling our first book, or graduating high school, or finding true love, or circumnavigating the globe - we forget about the success we already own, that we've already created for ourselves, each day of our journey.
SUCCESS IS:
Sitting down to creatively express yourself in words makes you a success as a writer.
SUCCESS IS:
Posting a blog entry that communicates what you need to share makes you a success as a blogger.
SUCCESS IS:
Loving someone and being loved as well makes that relationship a success.
SUCCESS IS:
Working out and feeling good is a success in enjoying and taking care of your body.
SUCCESS IS:
Setting boundaries with difficult people in your life and honoring yourself by sticking to those boundaries.
SUCCESS IS:
Each step you take towards achieving your long-term goal. Going to a writer's conference (like the upcoming 2011 SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City!) Or, if you're in school, learning something cool (like that Shakespeare was bisexual!)
SUCCESS IS:
Participating and being part of a community - like commenting on blogs in the kidlitosphere. In fact, get ready because The 2011 Comment Challenge will be starting this Thursday, January 6, 2011, and for 21 days MotherReader and I will be challenging people who read children's literature blogs to leave 5 comments a day and create a new habit of engagement and community!
SUCCESS IS:
Loving and accepting yourself for all of who you are - quirky, unique, wonderful YOU - makes you a success. Right now.
SUCCESS IS every day, being YOU. (And for me, being ME.)
So as we go forward into this New Year of 2011, and we have our sights set and our plans in place for achieving our long term goals, let's resolve to remember and appreciate, every day, how much success we have already achieved!
Our year ahead, all 365 glorious days, can be filled with this real, daily success.
Please share one of your daily successes!
My thanks to Frank for reminding me just how much each day is filled with success, if we just remember to acknowledge it.
6 comments:
I'm excited for the comment challenge--it connected me with some of my favorite people last year! Yay! Success!
We discovered a successful way to do resolutions this year (mine is to write every day)--each day that we don't follow our resolutions, we donate a dollar to charity. Success!
Hi Heather,
thanks for your comment! I'm also excited about the comment challenge - and I love your win-win strategy for sticking to your resolutions!!!
Thanks for sharing, and for being part of this amazing community!
Namaste,
Lee
Thanks for reminding me of the little successes I so easily ignore. It all adds up.
Laurie
What a great post! My success today was in signing up for a polar plunge to raise money for Special Olympics New York. Special Olympics athletes are role models for success.
What a wonderful way to frame the day (much less a year). Thanks for the inspirational end to this day, Lee.
I love that outlook on success! My success today was to get my 30 daily minutes of writing done - actually reading aloud my manuscript that is just about ready to submit. My success last year was to write at least 30 minutes every single day in 2010. But I like looking at daily successes.
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