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This past weekend I was asked to speak on “Success” and immediately, my mind went to “S U C C E S S… that’s the way we spell Success!” Yes, I was a cheerleader in high school, in case you hadn’t already guessed it. I was right back in 11th grade with that inner mantra playing in my mind. I had to laugh how back then it was about winning a football game. Today, it’s about living a winning life.

Our topic of discussion was, “How do you define success?” To me success isn’t about accumulation of money, things or accomplishments. It’s about being happy. Success is doing what you love and loving what you do. It’s not defined by wealth, or status, unless that’s what you love.

It’s not keeping up with someone else’s definition of success either, for success is a uniquely personal word that has a different definition for everyone. My definition and yours will never be the same. What may be defined as success for me could be failure for you and vice versa. Part of the beauty of life is that we don’t all want the same things.

To me the bottom line is this- to be successful is to live a fulfilled life each day by treasuring our successful moments. Success isn’t an end goal or a place where you arrive. It’s not about “becoming successful”. Life is much more enjoyable if you eliminate the pressure of “being successful” and look for successful moments to celebrate each day. Success is about living life in this very moment. It’s an attitude about life itself. It’s about celebrating the little successes along the way that together form a beautiful life.

My life has had several of those WOW! moments of success. Taking our 18-mile scroll filled with love and support to Iraq was one of those moments. Having Willie Nelson record Crazy on my daughter Carly’s debut CD was a night I won’t easily forget. Receiving a check for $200,000 profit on a real estate deal captures my attention. Getting married to the love of my life is a day I still replay in my mind and in my heart. So many memories with my children also define success. Having the courage to follow the dream and found InspireMeToday.com is success. Taking the first step in a new vision, or following that inner voice each day- that’s success. And these individual threads of successful moments weave the tapestry of a very rich life.

For me, I’ve found that successful moments come from implementation of successful practices. If I can remember these few things, my life rocks…

– Start and end each day with gratitude.
– Follow your bliss and your passion.
– Dream BIG!
– Surround yourself with excellence
– Ask for help when you need it
– Focus on the goal not the problem
– Let your faith be bigger than your fear
– Never give up- you only lose when you quit
– If it’s not fun, don’t do it.
– Don’t worry, be happy.

So ask yourself, “Where have I already been successful today?” There’s always something to celebrate no matter where you are in life- even if it’s only having the desire to grow by reading this post. Recognize and celebrate your moments of success!

Be grateful for where you are and know that even on days when all indication point otherwise, everything is perfect. You’re only seeing a piece of the puzzle. Celebrate the small successes along the way and they will multiply. And most importantly, don’t give up, for in this game called life, you can only lose if you quit. Cheers to your success!

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Gail Lynne Goodwin is the founder of InspireMeToday.com, bringing the best inspiration to the world. InspireMeToday.com provides free inspiration, each day from a new Inspirational Luminary, to a global community of folks from over 150 countries. Gail has interviewed many well-known names including Sir Richard Branson, Guy Laliberte, Seth Godin, Tony Hseih, Gary Vaynerchuk, Michael Gerber, Marci Shimoff, Jack Canfield and hundreds more. According to Mashable, Gail was one of 2009's Top 25 Most Inspirational People on Twitter.

Prior to InspireMeToday.com, Gail spent several years as manager for her recording artist daughter, Carly. As a result of the success of their co-penned song, "Baby Come Back Home", Gail accompanied her daughter to bases in the US and to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where Carly performed for our troops. Gail and Carly created the 'World's Longest Letter' of love and support and delivered the 18-mile long scroll on a month-long tour of Iraq and the Persian Gulf in 2006.

Gail is excited to present her latest course, Love in 21 Days, a step-by-step guide to finding love online. Love in 21 Days is founded on a logical process that has been tested - and proven! - by not only Gail, but also by students around the world who too have found love.

Gail is a published author and a regular writer for the Huffington Post. She offers mentoring and mastermind services to clients worldwide from her home in Whitefish, Montana. Follow Gail on Twitter or Google+.

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Gail, Thanks for this post.
    I totally agree. I’ve been rich and poor, sad and happy. Right now I can say I am at the best place I have ever been . I love my work. I get paid for doing what I love, writing.
    I have had more high-paying jobs, but never had a job that was as fulfilling as this one. I would probably do it for free(don’t tell my boss)!
    My relationships are strong and healthy and so is my body and spirit. I love my life. Here’s to finding success, and choosing happiness over what the world says success is(wealth, possessions,etc)
    Cheers!

  2. I am so happy, I get to do something I love, write, about something I am passionate about, the arts. And, someone is actually paying me to blog. YAY!
    Just interviewed the company head today, and tomorrow’s post is almost written.
    That’s how I spell success.

  3. Hi Gail,

    Funny you ask…was just scanning the day and I wasn’t all together pleased, and as I read your question/tweet it occurred to me that I had a big moment of success today.

    My 13 yr old was chatting away about girls and “stuff” – sort of downloading his day and we ended up chatting about babies. I said something about “having another” ( I MIS spoke, meant adopt! )…before I could fully correct myself as I meant ‘adopt’ and plus I’ve never given birth…HE said: “Wow that’s so great how you said that as if we are yours, like you gave birth to us or something, you must really love us – that’s real cool”

    My mouth hung open for a moment as I stared at his wisdom and his ease of sharing a way beneath the surface thought. You see he, his brother and sister were born to my husband’s sister who died after giving birth to him. We’ve been a family for 7 years and it has been my biggest challenge to have them feel loved, safe and secure in the knowledge that we are a family, for keeps.

    Him saying that was HUGE. He if not the others, surely feels the love. THAT was indeed a success for our family today. God knows it’s love they need most to mend their broken spirits. Them receiving our love hasn’t been the easiest.

    Success for me is raising whole and healed children. It’s aligning myself with my purpose, being grateful and in THIS very moment. It’s serving my clients, family and friends as I assist them in finding their own true purpose. And success is most definitely being free of baggage, issues and pain.

    Sorry for the long post, my spirit led me over. I’ve learned to be obedient – wasn’t even on Twitter today, just happen to click over as your tweet was arriving. 🙂

    Thank you for posting this and giving me this opportunity to share.

    Your light is so needed in our world, Gail. Thank You.

    Love to you ~~~♥♥♥~~~
    Julette

  4. I’m so sorry- I accidentally deleted this comment, so here it is as it was posted: (from gail)

    I needed to read this..my son is having a tantrum about soccer. Now to re- focus on the high point, having coffee w/ my nine year old daughter and chatting this afternoon. (She had a cocoa.) Sometimes the stress of raising four kids gets to me, and I lose focus…glad that I saw your tweet!
    Pamela

  5. What a wonderful post. Thanks for letting me share this: I was able to help raise enough money for a kid to attend a summer camp…they won’t know it was me, but I’ll know a child is attending that otherwise wouldn’t been able to. One more thing, and this was my daughter’s doing (without my prompting I might add) – a kid I coach in hockey has a mom who is battling end stage cancer. He’s a great teenage kid, this is pretty hard on him. My daughter went to visit her today – kind of startling, she’s never seen someone dying, let alone dying of cancer. (I worked with the ACS a long time ago, so have experience with it.) She spent time with this woman, even though she’s never even met her before. I couldn’t be more proud of my young lady.

  6. Hi Gail —

    Excellent post! In fact I’ve been quite focused on this recently and even did a wee video on Facebook last week issueing a CELEBRATE SUCCESS CHALLENGE — and did a happy dance on video to just be silly and joyful in the gratitude of the moment!

    My success today was doing my new PASSIONATELY POSITIVE Talkshoe radio show for the second week! This time I had one of my best friends as a guest which was a first for both of us! : )

    I love that people actually ENJOY the show and APPRECIATE the positivty we share. I get to uplift and encourage folks — and I know you understand what that means! : )

    So I issue the CELEBRATE SUCCESS CHALLENGE to your readers too! Anyone interested can find the video on Facebook.

    Gail — you are always a blessing!

    May you continue to manifest magic and miracles!

    Stephanie Bell the Spirit Coach
    http://PassionatelyPOSITIVE.com

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