Last night we had a unique presentation, co-presented by Miriam and Don on “Imperfect Success”  Don started out by asking us, “What did you want to be when you were 5?”

The point was, we all wanted to be something different when we were five, and like in that example, what we define as success changes as we grow older and hopefully wiser.  We also start seeing the success does not have to be perfect.  It can be a step along a path.  It can be something only you value.  Don pointed out, some of our greatest successes are things that mean nothing to others or are not even noticed by others. 

Miriam took over and we talked about definitions of success including:

What success isn’t – what other people think.

What other people think success is for them

What other people think success is for you 

Don continued with pointing out that we need to recognize that there are many parts of our life we can be successful in and they are not always tied together.  We then talked about defining areas of life we can be successful in, such as personal, family, social, and career success.

Miriam then talked about obstacles to succeed in our lives including depression,  anxiety, our sometimes dysfunctional families, and lack of family support.

Don and Miriam then both shared what they thought were their life successes.

The meeting wound up with Don asking the group “What is your biggest success?”

What did you overcome to get there?

What were the little successes along the way.

What did you learn from those little successes along the way?

What did you do today that was a success?

We all have successes every day, some big, some little.  As imperfect as they are, they are our successes.  Even if nobody else notices them.  What mountain are you going to climb tomorrow?  What is going to be your next success?