What does success mean to you?
Is your desire for success only career oriented? Are you fueled by praise from others? Do you want that gold star? That promotion?
Rather than success driven by approval from others, aim for failure that leads to genuine growth:
“You have to give to receive. You have to surrender to something outside yourself to gain strength within yourself. You have to conquer your desire to get what you crave. Success leads to the greatest failure, which is pride. Failure leads to the greatest success, which is humility and learning. In order to fulfill yourself, you have to forget yourself. In order to find yourself, you have to lose yourself.
To nurture your Adam I career, it makes sense to cultivate your strengths. To nurture your Adam II moral core, it is necessary to confront your weaknesses.” -David Brooks (The Road to Character)
What are your weaknesses? Confront the weaknesses in YOU (not your salary, your position, or your grades). Acknowledge them and work to grow past them. That may lead to failure, but it will eventually lead to genuine success. Ignoring these weaknesses and focusing on the things that will feed your pride will only lead to discontent.
Fail in order to succeed.
“Success leads to the great failure, which is pride. Failure leads to the great success, which is humility and learning.” -David Brooks (The Road to Character)
