YOU CAN HAVE BOTH
JUST REMEMBER ONE GOES ON
Money can be spent.
Positions can end.
Applause can become silent.
Outer success is borrowed from circumstances.
Inner success travels with you.
What is success?
How is it defined?
Against what is it measured or compared?
Does money define it?
Does power?
Achievement?
Degrees, knowledge, or being the best at something?
What about personal success or professional success?
All these things have value.
But can success be defined in other ways?
What is the most meaningful and lasting success a human being can achieve?
SUCCEEDING WITHIN—START HERE
I have always considered practicing and embracing the virtues a worthy endeavor and a form of success within the self.
Character travels with you throughout your life—and beyond too.
TEST THIS:
Remove honesty.
Ignore credibility.
Set aside transparency, personal truth, integrity, compassion, and fairness.
What is left?
A person may still possess money, property, education, influence, or a prestigious title.
But what type of success remains when the person possessing it cannot be trusted?
Outer success tells us what someone has.
Inner success reveals who is carrying it.
PERSONAL WORK REQUIRED
Consider first impressions.
They happen quickly.
At the same moment you are observing someone else, that person is observing you. Both of you begin forming opinions simultaneously.
Appearance speaks.
Posture speaks.
Eye contact, tone, attentiveness, manners, confidence, nervousness, warmth, indifference, and authenticity all enter the room before anyone completes the introduction.
We humans observe, compare, judge, accept, and reject.
That is part of our nature.
This is why inner work eventually becomes outer evidence.
You cannot permanently hide what you continually practice within.
SUCCESS IN IMPACTING ANOTHER LIFE
A helping hand is evidence of someone succeeding at recognizing the value of another person.
Think about the seemingly small moments you still remember:
Someone stopped to help.
Someone listened.
Someone defended you.
Someone shared a meal, offered encouragement, made a telephone call, opened a door, gave you an opportunity, or simply refused to leave you alone during a difficult hour.
Those tiny episodes of care randomly return to us throughout our lives.
Why?
Because they mattered.
If you spent your life creating moments like that for others, I would consider yours a successful and satisfying life.
Of course, you decide that.
SUCCESS IS OFTEN MODEST
The humble, meek, and those committed to doing what is right are frequently silent practitioners of success.
They nourish it within themselves and others.
They do not always demand approval, applause, or acknowledgment for their actions.
Their success lives in their hearts—and in the hearts of the people who know what they did.
That success is beyond measurement.
There may be no trophy.
No headline.
No public ceremony.
But a life was improved because they were there.
THE OTHER WAY AROUND
Now suppose we begin with an aggressive, ambitious, hit-the-ground-running, come-hell-or-high-water approach to obtaining what we want.
That energy will probably produce some kind of result.
Determination, focus, and tremendous effort cannot always be ignored.
But results alone do not settle the matter.
THE “HOW” WANTS IN
We can become so focused upon finishing what we started that we stop caring how we finish it.
The end begins justifying the means.
Ignoring the “how” may appear workable for a while—but it only postpones the examination.
Eventually, conscience, hindsight, consequences, and feedback gently—or not so gently—bring the “how” forward.
Then you must confront your own standards.
Did you play fairly?
Did you injure others?
Did you keep your word?
Did you become someone you respect while acquiring what you wanted?
WORTHY NOTE: It is not merely what a person has, but how the person came to have it.
PAUSE FOR CAUSE.
Success obtained by abandoning yourself is a very expensive purchase.
BACK TO THE POST TITLE
One day, many of us awaken wanting to understand what makes us tick.
Who am I?
What do I believe?
What can I do differently from yesterday’s comfortable routine?
What does success mean when nobody else supplies the answer?
This kind of self-examination produces a fork in the road—an inner crossroads.
And remember, you are still out there participating in life while pondering all this.
The bills, relationships, responsibilities, choices, and opportunities do not stop while you search within.
WHAT ARE WE HOPING TO FIND?
We hope to discover the coveted experience that cannot be purchased:
AHA!
BINGO!
“I get it!”
It feels as though a light has suddenly illuminated the place where your inner treasure was kept.
You receive a “goodie”—a truth, strength, understanding, gift, or realization—that helps you pursue your needs and worthy desires with less conflict.
Wow to this.
That discovery was not shipped from the outside.
It was revealed from within.
INNER SUCCESS IS YOURS TO KEEP
Outer success frequently depends upon circumstances:
The company remains open.
The market cooperates.
Your health holds.
The position continues.
The audience applauds.
The money retains its value.
Other people agree that you succeeded.
Therefore, outer success is partly borrowed.
Inner success belongs to the person who became honest, credible, compassionate, disciplined, wise, faithful, courageous, and real.
Circumstances may test those qualities—but they cannot repossess them without your cooperation.
PEARLS INSIGHT
Outer success measures what you acquired, achieved, or influenced.
Inner success measures the person who participated in the acquiring, achieving, and influencing.
The ideal is not to reject outer success.
It is to ensure that the inside can responsibly carry what the outside receives.
RICHIE SPEAKS
Go ahead and succeed.
Build the business.
Earn the degree.
Write the book.
Win the position.
Make the money.
Help the people.
Just do not become so busy building the résumé that you neglect the person whose name is printed at the top.
THE WOWIE
Yes, you can succeed at almost anything.
I leave it to you to determine the type, degree, meaning, and personal satisfaction derived from getting and doing this thing called success.
May the INside become an equal partner with the OUTside as you continue succeeding in all you do.
FINAL THOUGHT
A medal can hang upon you.
A title can be placed before your name.
A key can open a beautiful property.
A diploma can certify what you studied.
But honesty, credibility, kindness, and integrity must live inside the person wearing, using, or displaying them.
Outer success decorates the life.
Inner success dignifies it.
FINAL SAY
Build success that circumstances can recognize.
But first, build success that your soul can keep.
I’M TALKING TO YOU…
Yes, YOU.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
Been expecting you