On success…

In America they talk of the American dream or the bling, here we talk about riding the gravy train (It’s been sometime since I’ve heard that phrase). Is success a matter of acquiring material possessions? If not, what is success?This question has been bugging me for quite a while now, so in my quest to find the truth, I sort to reading. According to self-help books success is “never giving up” even when days are dark. Success is driven by the will to accomplish something; it’s the fire from within that tells you to get up after you have fallen. This is the difference between a looser and a winner, the courage to move on after a failure.My search for the truth about success did not end there, I asked around for some people’s interpretation on what success is and these are some of the answers I received; good education, good job, being the “top dog” – big car, nice clothing. These are the sentiments of a teenage girl on success. As far as she is concerned success is material possessions.The opinion of a 40something father was different from that of the teenage girl, he saw it as being able to provide the basic necessities for your family, things like food, shelter, transport, health, security and of course a few luxuries.

Both views make sense, though the former is more self-centered and the latter is family orientated. Success begins with a dream, and then you must set goals on how to reach for your dream and act on those goals. Living your dream is evidence that you are a success.
It is not what people think of you that can help you succeed but what you know about yourself can be vital in your way to living your dream. On Christmas Eve last year I met Patrice Motsepe, little did I know I was chatting to South Africas’ first black dollar billionaire (and I mean US $ NOT Zim) and the third richest man in the country (US $2.5 billion) – according to Forbes Magazines Rich List 2007/08.Being the inquisitive bloke that I am, I asked him for his definition of success – “Success is you” that’s what he said. This was a little vague but after some deep thinking this is how I interpreted his statement – Your success is up to you i.e. your attitude determines your altitude! or YOU GET WHAT YOU PUT IN.

Albert Einstein (TIME Magazines’ person of the century) teacher once said “nothing good” would ever become of him. Thomas Edison failed more than ten thousand times in his attempt to invent the light bulb, he said of his conquest “I did not fail, I just found ten thousand ways that do not work” Even a mistake may turnout to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement- Henry Ford. These are some of the successes of the last century.

You know want you want, act on it and believe in yourself and that way you will reward the fruits of your labour and you will proudly say “I HAVE MADE IT,I HAVE SUCCEEDED”

Dream big, Act quick and don’t quit – Dinilohlanga Mekuto