Publishing Guidelines: You may publish my article in your newsletter, on your web site, or in your print publication provided you include resource box at end. Notification would be appreciated but is not required.

What Is Your Legacy of Success? By Kathleen Gage

Success! Easy to talk about, but difficult to achieve. Or is it? Success is defined differently by virtually anyone you ask because success is a very personal experience. Is your definition of success based on values, dreams and beliefs of others? How often do people strive for accomplishments that will show they are “successful” yet they are left spiritually and emotionally lost?

As we grow and change our definition of success is bound to change. For some, success is doing whatever it takes to gain material wealth regardless of personal, spiritual or emotional cost. For others, success is defined quite differently.

When our life is in balance, we become a magnet for success. An important key to achieving what we desire is to become clear about our personal definition of success - physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, personally, professionally and in our community.

There is an extraordinary paradox with success. You must have an idea of what success means to you and outcome you desire to achieve. On flip side, to truly fulfill path intended for you at a higher level, you must be willing to let go of actual outcome. This can be very challenging since many of us have been taught to do whatever it takes to assure a particular outcome of a situation. By holding on when it is time to let go, we may be shortchanging ourselves. If we are able to let go of end result and trust process that gets us there, we may end up with more than we ever dreamed possible.

Life frequently holds interesting twists and turns. What often seems like a tragedy and failure can become one of life’s greatest blessings. Such was case for me in late September 2002. I had achieved a level of outward success that I worked very hard for. I held an executive position with a Salt Lake City firm, made an excellent income, had corner office, a dedicated staff and accomplished much of what I put my mind to.

There surely can be secret ingredients, as when formulating a product, or there might even be patented processes in manufacturing an item. However, success is not that hard to figure out. It is not patentable and it is NOT a secret. In a free society, such as ours is, almost everyone has potential to realize their definition of success. Successful people, either copy a product/service/idea, that is already working or, create one of their own. That's it! No secret, we all know that by now.

As a society, we are too quick, in my opinion, to hand over our own intrinsic potential for greatness to others. We are too quick to tell ourselves that we cannot attain greatness we so admire in others, without acknowledging possibilty that if we applied ourselves and made sacrifices that they did,we ourselves could be just as celebrated, as an Oprah or a Bill Gates.