Balloons

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On the wings of wind

They float with such grace and beauty

That dazzles everyone’s sight.

They bring enthusiasm and inspiration to all

They reminds us of the innocent laughter

Of kids at birthday parties.

A balloon when filled with hot air flies

Human Spirits must be inspired in similar ways

But a balloon can be burst into pieces with a small blow.

Balloons are like people.

They come in such beautiful colors

Yellow, blue, red and green

Balloons are like life’s journey

They fly high to unknown places

From land, sea and mountains they travel

They go off to far off places

And no one knows where

Its destination is written.

The captain of the wind steers it to the horizon

He decides the path and the destination

And no one else knows.

What does 'Success' mean to you?

During my college years and while preparing for a new job I frequently heard this question, what does Success mean to you? We hear lot of definitions too for success. I come across several quotes about success, the difference between successful and unsuccessful people etc.

I am not satisfied with any of the explanations any motivational speaker or any books I have come across. They all define what success means to them. True, that’s why the question is subjective and not objective. The simple dictionary meaning of the word success is ‘The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.’

So if we have achieved out of our efforts what we have wanted, then that’s success for you and me. I think most of the time people misunderstand success as gaining wealth and fame only. Gaining fame and wealth can also mean success to those who desire to have them, but counting only people who have achieved fame and wealth as successful is not right.

We hear and read about many people who succeeded in business, entertainment, sports etc. And we tend to portray them as successful people. Of course they have achieved success, but only career wise. What about their life? You think all people who achieved success in their career are equally successful in their life? I don’t think so.

Why limit success just to career? During our education, we are encouraged to set goals which are purely career based. I grew up hearing most old people asking young children, what they want to be when they grow up. It is good and important to have career goals, but it is equally important or even more important to set goals in other facades of our life.

From many seminars that I have attended, I heard people speak about how we should aim high in life and should stop thinking and leading a mediocre life. True, but once again they were all talking about aiming high in career only. I could not completely agree with any of them, because for me family come first, career come second. I felt for the speakers it was the other way around.

I used to think for me success means is to be happy. So whatever that brings me happiness is my success. But I think it is the success that brings happiness to me. I don’ think we can ask someone whether they consider themselves a success or failure, because like the saying goes, it is not a destination but a journey. We are all constantly either succeeding or failing in something or the other.

Always people want to know the formula for success especially if they want to be successful career wise or if they want to make lot of money in their life. Making lot of money and holding a prestigious company in your hands is not ultimate success. The happiness it brings will fade out sooner or later.

We need to succeed in life. We need to overcome the challenges and struggles we face in our day to day life. For different people, the challenges are different. Some struggle with careers, some struggle with disease, some people faces injustice, some people face challenges from society, some from within family. We need to succeed all the challenges we face in our life.

There are certain qualities we need to cultivate in ourselves to succeed in all walks of our life. The first and foremost is the determination to succeed. Take a look at the following quotes.

1. "Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success." - Dr. Joyce Brothers.
2. "Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed."- Abraham Lincoln
3. "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will." Vincent T. Lombardi
4. "When a man feels throbbing within him the power to do what he undertakes as well as it can possibly be done, this is happiness, this is success."

All the above quotes direct towards one thing that is will power. If we have strong will power, nothing can stop us from achieving what we want. Abraham Lincoln’s quote point to us how discouragement can kill our dreams. We all start with a resolution but we all mostly by the end of a week we can no longer stick to our decision due to lack of enthusiasm. We get discouraged and that’s how we fail. In the 4th quote we can see that along with determination, we need to put our will power into efforts in order to succeed and that is the second quality one must possess.

1. "Success doesn't come to you? You go to it." Marva Collins
2. "The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly right." Edward Simmons

There is no substitute for hard work. Hard work always pays off. Putting our determination into action is equally important as to having will power.

1. “Whenever I hear it can’t be done; I know I am closer to success”-Michael Flatlay
2. “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.”-William Feather
3. “The penalty of success is to be bored by the attentions of people who formerly snubbed you.”- M.W. Little
4. “Remember you are born to live and don’t live because you are born. Don’t go the way life takes you; take life the way you want to go.”
5. “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
6. Success depends above all, upon people. Build relationships, teams, partnerships -- and motivate people to contribute. Cultivate leadership, creativity, excellence. Listen; seek new ideas and advice. --Ruth Scott Pres. & CEO, Assoc. for Portland (OR) Progress

7. 7 secrets of success… I found it in my room
• Roof said: ...................................... Aim high
• Fan said: ......................................... Be cool
• Clock said: .................. Every min. is precious
• Mirror said: ...................Reflect before you act
• Window said: ............................ See the world
• Calendar said: .......................... Be up-to-date
• Door said: ..........Push hard to achieve Ur goals


8. “The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly right” - Edward Simmons
9. “All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure”- Mark Twain
10. .

We see so many different viewpoints from many great men here. Among them I find that they all have undying enthusiasm and they all speak out to us, not to be afraid of failures. Einstein himself said it was his 3000th attempt when he succeeded in inventing light bulb and when asked by people, so you failed all the 2999 times and his answer was inspiring. He said “I found 2999 ways how not to make a light bulb”


I particularly like the 6th quote where this person talks about building relationships as part of being successful. True indeed, whether for business or personal, relationships we build shows how successful we have been in life as a human being. For any goal you have in your life use the 7th quote as a formula to overcome any challenge in front of you. Success does call for a plan of action that we need to follow strictly and sometimes we fail because we didn’t do what we were exactly supposed to do. Success calls for discipline.


Mark Twain talks about confidence and something that sounds odd to many of us- Ignorance. How can ignorance bring success? We know that knowledge is power, then how can ignorance help bring success. Sometimes even ignorance is good. In certain cases ‘Ignorance is bliss.’ For example when you know every risk or obstacle that stop you from achieving something great may shake your confidence, in those events it is better not to know.

And the last one just breaks down everything about success. To become a man of value is given more importance by a man who is considered by the world as a successful person. Great men are those who had great value. If you strive to become more valuable, success will follow you.

Success and failures come and go in every man’s life. Is being successful is all that means to you in life? Listen what Winston Churchill said.  

                                                                     

So don’t be so obsessed with being successful, there is many things beyond success and failure. Life teaches you many things. Success and failure are just one chapter in life. There are many more things to explore and learn.