There are many altruistic people on this planet. Loosely defined, altruism is the principle and moral practice of concern for other human beings that contributes to their material and spiritual quality of life.
Before I opened my laptop today, I was thinking about writing something related to success because it seems to me that we spend a lot of time chasing it. The thought about a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow keeps coming to mind.
Anyway, laptop fired up, I popped into one of my networks to check on notifications to see if there was anything I needed to do. The first thing I read was a comment relating to something I had written and it blew me away.
“But that’s who you are, an exceptional person and writer. I love reading your posts. They feed my brain, soul, spirit, body, and heart” (Wanda S).
To say I’m glowing right now is an understatement and forcing my feet back to the ground has been a challenge during the last few minutes; my soul is singing, and “success” is reverberating around my mind. Wanda dropped me into the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Yet success wasn’t something I was chasing when I wrote that post. Each time I write, learning is always one of my aims and by learning and sharing I hope that others will discover value and benefit. There are other outcomes from writing too like, getting better at the craft of writing to name but one.
Back to Success
Viktor Emil Frankl (1905 – 1997) was a holocaust survivor and an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of Existential Analysis. In his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning” (Originally published in German in 1946) he recounted his experiences as a concentration camp inmate and described his psychotherapeutic method of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most distasteful ones such as concentration camp interment. Through his analysis he found reasons to continue living. He also made an interesting observation about success.
“Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like 
happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.
Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it”
(Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning)
The Journey
Stop thinking about success and get on with the journey is one of the takeaways from Frankl’s thoughts. There is a pot of gold at the end of your rainbow, but you will only discover it by paying attention to the steps along the way. Writing content, taking care of Search Engine Optimization; whatever is necessary in your niche, your business, your life.
It’s very pleasing when somebody wishes me success and I often do the same but, how about we change that a little?
I wish you a glorious journey through 2020 and I hope you enjoy every step along the way. As the Buddhist saying goes, every journey starts with a single step. Keep taking those steps.
Comments and Questions
Please leave yours below. Your thoughts or questions may well ignite a positive spark in another readers thinking. You will always receive a prompt response to your questions and there is no such thing as a bad question; only the one that was never asked.
Here’s to taking those steps!
Peace & Light
and
Seasons Greetings
Steve Costello is a British Community & Youth Studies and Psychology honors graduate with over 30-years theoretical and practical experience in the Personal Development public and private sectors. He founded ExGro in 2018 with business partner, friend and clinical psychologist, Leo Faerberg.
Maggie
It’s always fulfilling to read your articles. I told you i’ll come back for more. ” Do not aim at success…” I totally agree, chasing success never works. I’ve seen that myself. I’d like to think that losing yourself and being engrossed in whatever is your undertaking, without worrying about the future or results becomes enjoyable and before you know it you are there but when you constantly think about success, the journey feels burdensome and this way you can easily feel dispirited and quit as a result. Success itself is hidden in the process, “paying attention to the steps you take” is key. Each step will take you to the next and before You know it you’ve accomplished your goal. Take the staircase of a tall building for instance, if you are going to look at it and worry if you’ll make it to the top you’ll want to run through the stairs and the likelihood is that you might fall and end up with injuries but if you take one step at a time without looking at the whole staircase, you’ll notice when you are just about to finish that time flew and you’ll be motivated to take on even more challenges.
admin
Thank you Maggie, it’s wonderful to see you here again. There is much to take away from your comments and I like your staircase thoughts particularly and agree absolutely.
Seasons Greetings and I wish you Peace & Light in 2020.
Steve