Does Old Success Adage Still Ring True?

I was challenged last week about the adage Rory Vaden uses in his Take the Stairs program - an adage that has been around the motivational speaking industry longer than Rory or I or any of us, perhaps, have been living. The saying goes "Successful people do what others will not do."

The contention was that people in low-level jobs, such as housekeeping, trash collection, waitresses, etc., do things others will not do and they are not necessarily successful. Very true - but a thought process not necessarily in line with the spirit of the adage. Mass-murderers also do what others will not do, and they wouldn't be considered a success by the world's standards. At the same time, some of these people may perceive themselves as wonderfully successful, depending on their perspective of success - whether they're washing dishes or disposing victims.

The spirit of the adage, in my mind, is "Successful People do things that make them successful that others will not do." Often, we can look at a successful person's life and see that what they've done isn't so far out of our ability to do, but rather out of our comfort zone or the definition of ourselves we've built over the years.

There are two main thoughts that come to me out of the debate I've been having over this issue in my mind.

1. Success is what we define it as, on an individual basis.
2. Success doesn't come from doing from what others won't in every case.

Which leads me to this conclusion:

Succes is reached by those who do what others who haven't achieved that success will not do, regardless of what the definition of success is. Which means we must define success for ourselves, then find what it takes to get there, and do those things. The adage itself works in a very comparative sense that way - if two people are faced with an identical task, and one is willing to work in a way that accomplishes it better than the other, the adage fits well. Even in this case, two people with the same task can accomplish it with equal results in completely different ways, which, rather than disproving the adage merely gives it more channels with which to operate.

What is success to you? Is it based in money? Family? Spiritual meaning? Freedom? Looks? Sex? Joy? Usually its a combination of all of those things and more, to one degree or another. I know I have felt more successful at times when I've made less money and spent more time with my family than the inverse.

Define your own success. Then do what it takes to get there, whether others are doing it or not. In the end, the only one to judge if you are a success or not, and be right, is you.