What Does Success Mean?
Updated: Jan 19, 2024
Written by: Dr. Hynd Bouhia, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Success has different definitions and meanings. It depends on the person, the context, the ambitions, and the inner values. On the one hand, success can be evaluated and defined through material achievements, money, assets, or fame. On the other hand, success is aligned with inner peace, fulfillment, feeling joy, love, and happiness. In reality, success is very specific to you. Success is the reflection of your being in a situation where you feel you have fulfilled what “having a good life” means to you. And “having a good life” could be about reaching your inner peace, having good health, and enjoying loving relationships. Thus, success in that sense has nothing to do with material ownership.
If your excitement, motivation, and stimulation are about creating wealth and making an impact, the closer you get to those goals, the more you will feel you are approaching success. Therefore, success will be seen relative to what you have defined as a celebratory achievement. And this celebration point will keep moving when you have a long-term horizon for your vision. This way success will become a journey and not an end on its own.
Make your objectives so big…it will be hard to dismiss them
Broadening your perspectives will help you keep the focus and not sabotage yourself. This is particularly important when you feel you are not achieving small objectives with the tight deadlines you gave yourself.
We set goals to stay focused. We set goals to know where we are going.
But you should never let those goals become an emotional triggering factor when you find yourself at your lowest state and the goals appear too far or too difficult. This is why when you define a goal to reach a 10k this month, or 100K or even 1 million. As soon as the month finishes and you don’t see that goal becoming a reality, you get yourself into a spiral of frustration and unworthiness.
The same thing happens when you are looking for a new job, looking for a new partner, or anything you are seeking to manifest in your life.
When your goal is big, failure, setbacks, or a month with no results, will not stop you from reaching it. Because the picture is larger. The dream is broader. The horizon is long-term. This way, the mission holds many stories in it and your context will make the journey worth it. With its ups and downs. This is how you build resilience.
When you create a strong belief about your mission, you can make it so powerful and so aligned with who you really are.
In addition, when you keep your goals and objectives broad, they become your legacy. This way you will not get into a self-sabotaging mood as soon as something does not go your way.
Finally, when you can zoom out from the difficulties and consider the larger picture that means that you are acting from a solid equilibrium you have built for yourself.
Success is about balance
Success is about reaching the equilibrium on top of the 5 pillars described in the previous article entitled “How to find the balance in life: the 5 pillars to create a solid equilibrium”, which are:
spirituality,
mental and physical health
relationships
profession
money
Once you reach the balance for these five pillars, you will find a fulfilling equilibrium where success shines all through.
In your daily endeavors, success is about the balance between mindset and strategy, intuition and logical reasoning, finding excuses and growing resilient; and taking actionable plans and keeping a strategic vision. This balance will provide the equilibrium between your professional life and personal life.
When you find yourself standing on that equilibrium, you will feel driven towards your goals and objectives by a wave that seems magically harmonious and fulfilling.
How do you find that balance?
This is why I created the BAL Method ² to help women become great leaders by creating wealth and making an impact. The three phases of the Believe-Act-Lead Method take every woman through a transformational process with the ultimate objective to achieve balance in every aspect of life and to stay aligned with her inner values and the overall objectives.
In fact, when you are too much on one side and not on the other, there will be a direct correlation with the results that you get for yourself. Those results will represent the level of income, clients, business, happiness, confidence, family, well-being, and all the other aspects of life.
I learned that early on when I was spending hours mastering problem-solving in mathematics and physics, and taking a break from it to enjoy playing Piano and practicing to reach excellence. Making music and learning Chopin’s Nocturne, the Goldberg Variations by Bach, or a piece from Mozart or Beethoven, was as valuable to me as all the other school work.
Embracing simultaneously these two ways of being kept me focused as a student, as a graduate, and also in the early years of my career. And as I was advancing, my spark became the mission I deeply believed in: that is playing a role in sustainable development and making a difference in people’s life.
This is why the “Believe, Act and Lead” Method ³ I created is about finding that balance to reach success, create wealth, and make a sustainable impact. The BAL Method helps women redesign their thinking and their actions. All in Harmony with their personalities and their aspirations. This is why and how they can set a bigger stage for themselves.
Finally, Success is a journey
In conclusion, there are many ways to find that harmony in your life and weave through it to reach success. Once you understand what success means to you, all it takes is focus, discipline, and heart-centered strategies to turn your vision into reality. The journey to success is yours to create and that is the beauty of it!
Dr. Hynd Bouhia, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. Hynd Bouhia has cumulated more than 20 years of professional experience in high-level and leadership positions, covering investments, financial structuring, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development strategies. Hynd Bouhia was nominated by Forbes among the 100 most influential women in the world in 2008 and among the most influential women in Business in the Arab World in 2015 and honored as a member of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2018.
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Believe in yourself, in the possibilities, and in your dream vision; Act on it, and Lead with it
