Growing up, I always asked myself: What do I want to be when I grow up? And my answer to that question constantly evolved. Priorities changed, and with that, goals and aspirations changed.

But the need to be a success was always there.

Why was it important for me to be a success? I realized that success is presented in our society as one of the most important elements of progress. But no two people will likely agree on the idea of what success to them is.

Whether it be honoring God, solidarity, courage, ideology, management of personal finances, career-related decisions - no matter the value - success is present in everything and becomes the primary catalyst for our forward momentum.

The consistent absence of success in one’s life can very well become a source of emotional problems, leading to frustration, anxiety, despair, etc. Integrity and success must go hand in hand.

Success is not to be considered just an individual matter. There needs to be a shift in the paradigm that teaches us that each of us needs to champion our own affairs in terms of success. A widely accepted depiction, which happens to be completely untrue.

It is crucial to be mindful and revel in our successes because they scaffold us to new heights. Success is important to us humans. To consistently and constantly be on the winning side of this pursuit necessitate us to make some pivotal changes to our mind-set and also our lifestyle.

12 Life-Changing Steps, Not Rules dives into many of these paradigms that needs revisiting:

And everyone understands that along the way, you will fall a few times and to you, I say, in the words of Winston Churchill: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

There is a popular prayer that summarizes this beautifully. “God, give me the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”