Finding success in smal things

A majority, if not all, writers believe that success is all about the final goal - being able to hold a copy of their book in their hands. But, this isn't all there is to being successful.

I love musicals, and one of the best lines has to come from the remake of Fame:

There are a few things that Success is not…
Success is not fame, money or power
Success is waking up in the morning so excited about what you have to do that you literally FLY out of the door
Success is getting to work with the people you love
Success is finding a way of connecting and binding them together
Success is connecting with the world
Success is falling asleep knowing you did the best you could
Success is joy, friendship and freedom
Success is LOVE.”

Why would you do something if not for the love of it? Even if you were successful and got a lot of money in return, if you did not really love what you're doing then that success isn't worth very much.

People measure success differently. Some feel great satisfaction and success when finally reaching "The End" of the ms, while some may only consider success has come once they've signed on with an agent or even published that book.

For the past couple of weeks I've been in a classroom... teaching in a classroom... and the way I see success has definitely changed. Like, for instance, today I managed to keep my year 10 English class quiet for at least 30 minutes, I definitely saw that as a success... but, my mentor teacher found so many things to critique me on, where as my year 11's were noisy and I 'nearly' had to raise my voice several times after separating students in the room. I wouldn't have seen this as a success, but yet, I got the comments that the lesson went really well and I was great at explaining the stuff I was teaching.

Here, I can see my opinions of success greatly differ from those of another. A success is just an opinion, the way it's seen is different with every person. With writing, my idea of success would be to be able to do the thing I love every day, and reaching that sweet, sweet ending just tops it off... don't get me wrong, getting an agent and deal is what I'm working toward, but that would just be the cherry on top.

So, what do you see as a success?

What is Success?

I decided to have a nice, relaxing night last night and just tune out so, I decided to watch the new version of Fame.

Near the end of the movie one of the characters, Jenny, gives a speech about success, which made me think about how people measure success. This isn't just important to writers, but to whatever career or sport or activity one puts themselves through.

Can success be measured in how much money or material possessions a person has? Or, even if a writer snags a top agent or book deal - yes, that definitely would be a success.

But, the speech addressed some points of success that I never thought about:

"Success is waking up in the morning so excited about what you have to do that you literally fly out the door. It's getting to work with people you love. Success is connecting with the world and making people feel. It's finding a way to bind together people who have nothing in common but a dream. It's falling asleep at night knowing you did the best job you could."

I just absolutely love that speech. So, what does everyone consider a success?