What Is Success, Anyway?

“Success” is a word we use casually, as if everyone has a universal understanding of what it means. We don’t.

We hear about the “American success story.” But what does that mean? What makes the story a “success”? Do we evaluate it according to income and net worth? Status? Fame? Size of house and make of car? Recognition in the community?

We tend to assign success labels to people with names everyone knows. In fact, if you’re known by a single name, such as folks in the music world like Reba or Cher, Bono or Adele, or athletes like Lebron or Kobe, A-Rod or Peyton, that means you’re really successful, right? But what about one-hit musical wonders, like “Earth Angel” in 1955, sung by the Penguins, or “Do You Love Me” by the Contours in 1962? Both made it to the Top Ten, but those artists shone like comets and then disappeared. Does that mean they weren’t successful?

This topic came up recently when someone on a writers’ social media site asked, "Is it possible to be a successful author after age 65?" When I read the question I thought, “Why can’t someone older than 65 be a successful writer?” Then it occurred to me it depends on how we define success.

If “success” means becoming the next John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, or Kathy Reichs, the answer’s probably no. But then a better question would be, “Is it possible to be a successful author at any age?” Because of all the millions of people who view themselves as writers, only a tiny percentage will ever make the New York Times bestsellers list.

However, if being successful means finishing a manuscript and having it published, by whatever means, then having it read by people in the intended audience large or small (besides one’s mother), then writers can be considered successful, whether they’re 25, 65, or 105. If they’ve enjoyed the process of writing, have done so to the best of their ability, and someone has benefited from what they’ve written, that’s a measure of success.

What about parenting? Does “success” mean raising a child smart enough to attend and graduate from a prestigious (and expensive) university, earn advanced degrees, and then settle into a career that brings prominence and great financial rewards? Or does it mean having a child that upholds and lives according to high moral standards, grows into a loving and compassionate individual, recognizes his or her innate abilities and gifts, and uses them to serve others in meaningful ways?

The same perspectives could be applied to any field of endeavor. We celebrate captains of industry. One of them, Donald Trump, gets a lot of attention these days, but is he really more “successful” than the single mom who leverages her craft skills into a cottage industry to meet the everyday needs of her family? Or the schoolteacher who pursues his role as a calling, not a job, and in the course of his career becomes a positive role model for hundreds of children? Or law enforcement officers that regard their work as opportunities to serve and protect the public, regardless of color, ethnicity, age or gender?

The Bible doesn’t say much about success specifically. The word appears only once in the original translations, but that single use is revealing: “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success” (Joshua 1:8).

In other words, God sees success as learning and implementing His truth in our everyday lives, following His principles for experiencing a fruitful, rewarding life.

Ephesians 2:10 declares, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Success, from His perspective, is figuring out what those “good works” are and striving to carry them faithfully.

We find a similar statement in the apostle Paul’s second letter to his young protégé, Timothy. After stating, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” the apostle adds, “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Earlier Paul had written to Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

When we buy a new high-tech device, whether it’s a wide-screen, high-definition TV or the newest generation PC, one measure of success in owning them is whether we set them up and use them as directed to the operating manual. In a similar – yet far more profound – way, in God’s view success for us is striving to discern His truth and living according to it.

We might never merit any edition of “Who’s Who,” but if the Lord knows who we are and we’re recipients of His unconditional love, that’s a formula for ultimate success.

Success, and the ‘10,000-Hour Rule’

Do you consider yourself successful? What would you cite as necessities for someone to achieve great success?

Whenever there’s a discussion of what constitutes success, opinions are plentiful. Innate abilities, sometimes also referred to as “giftedness” or aptitude, can certainly make a huge difference. Education and training usually are significant contributors. And you can’t discount the level of one’s determination and perseverance – willingness to continue pressing forward in the face of obstacles and adversity.

As someone has said,
before trying to climb
the ladder of success,
make certain it's
facing the right wall.

Years ago in Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell examined success from many perspectives. He introduced the “10,000-Hour Rule” as a key factor for attaining high levels of success. Drawing from Swedish psychologist Anders Ericsson’s research, Gladwell proposed spending at least 10,000 hours practicing a specific skill as a prerequisite for mastering it.

Predictably, Gladwell’s declaration met criticism from experts arguing time and repetition alone can’t guarantee success. The saying, “practice makes perfect,” falls flat if you practice making the same mistakes again and again, they noted. Maybe that’s why the adage was later amended to “Perfect practice makes perfect.”

In reality, both sides are right – and wrong. Large quantities of time will produce success only if practice and repetition are done with quality. And practice, even if done with precision, will foster success only if done in sufficient quantities to make excellence almost second nature.

Thinking about Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule, only a handful of things I’ve done over the years would qualify. When I took Personal Typing as a junior in high school, learning the “home row” seemed impossible, and I couldn’t imagine typing without looking directly at the keys. After many years of work as a journalist, learning to think and compose at the keyboard, I became very proficient as a typist. In fact, my typing surpassed many of the secretaries and administrative assistants wherever I worked.

I couldn’t begin to calculate how much time I’ve spent writing, over more than 40 decades as a newspaper reporter and editor, magazine editor, book author, columnist and blogger. But the hours must total tens of thousands. On happy occasions when someone is kind enough to compliment my writing skills, I’m thankful. But it also occurs to me, “Well, I’d better be a pretty good writer. I’ve spent enough time doing it!”

Contrast that with pursuits I’ve enjoyed but never invested enough time to perfect. It was fun playing the drums in high school, but after a couple of years of formal lessons, my percussion practice consisted only of random “bang sessions.” As a result, I never became the drummer I would have liked to be.

In college I spent many hours on tennis courts playing recreationally. Over time I became reasonably skilled given my athletic limitations, but because I never invested the time demanded to become a good player, I never advanced beyond mediocre. Ten thousand hours practicing tennis? Not even close.

So what’s all this got to do with anything? Well, for one thing, the mantra, “It’s the quality that counts, not quantity,” is a copout. For instance, in parenting, children want quality time – but they like it in quantity. If you want to have a good, growing marriage, you need to give your spouse quantity time – not an occasional quality hour or two. Successful parents – and successful partners – aren’t afraid to invest whatever time is necessary. Maybe even 10,000 hours or so.

Spiritually it’s much the same. The average Christian seems to think attendance at a worship service and maybe a Sunday school class or small group is sufficient for spiritual maturity. “Hey, God, I gave you a couple of hours on Sunday. What do you want?”

Granted, we have work, family obligations, time for eating and sleeping, maybe a few community activities thrown in. And we need time for TV and just chillin’, right? But how can we experience success spiritually if we spend more time eating chips than we do speaking and listening to God?

In reality, He wants us 24/7. That doesn’t mean we walk about with hands folded and heads bowed. But the Bible does say, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), which means doing that in the classroom, during a business meeting, while disciplining our children, cooking meals, even driving the car. Praying does not require closed eyes or opened mouths.

The verse preceding that tells us to “Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). This applies to good times and bad, victories and defeats, happy times and sad. Because being successful spiritually involves trusting the Lord is with us no matter what.

Do you really want to know God? It’s going to require a lot more than reading “the verse of the day” that arrives by email every morning. King David understood this from personal experience when he wrote, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word…. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:9,11).

Imagine if, over the course of your lifetime, you were to invest 10,000 hours or more in prayer, Bible study and meditation. Do you think that might result in spiritual success? It sure would be worth a try.