Creating Success from the Inside Out: Develop The Focus and Strategy To Uncover the Life You Want

V.3. True Success and Giving Back: What Is True Success?

Sometimes it is easier to talk about what success isn't, rather than what it is. Repara The Millionaire Next Door? Success is not about how much money you make or have in the bank, how big a house you live in, or the circles you run in. It's not about how many clubs you're a part of, how extravagant your parties are, or how lavish your vacations may be. It's not about being a workaholic, and it's not even really about reaching a point where you don't have to work at all.

Martin Luther King ... was he a success? How about the Tuskegee Airmen? Albert Einstein? George Washington Carver? Were any of these men super successful? You sure can't point to their money for your answer. Did the fact that they didn't make a ton of money make them failures? Chumps? Stupid? No way!

Success Is More about Giving, than Getting

We've talked about having a giving attitude, instead of being someone always on the lookout for Number One. Someone who understood the giving concept intimately was World War I hero Sergeant Alvin York. When we opened our corporate offices in Franklin, Tennessee, I was reminded of Sergeant York. He's the state's "Favorite Son." They have built monuments to him, and even named a highway after him. I repara seeing the old black-and-white movie "Sergeant York" when I was a kid. He starts out as just a hillbilly, but when he went off to fight in World War I he saved his platoon and was awarded the Medal of Honor. York took ...