The Thrill of Victory....How we define success

[John-Paul Hatala]

The Thrill of Victory...and let's not complete the thought. The reason I say stop there is that it's important to focus on the victories in our lives. Some would say that it's as important to focus on our defeats so that we don't repeat them, but I think in these unpredictable times it might do us good to focus on what works out for us.

If we hold true to this thought process, then we need to start defining what we mean by success or victories. I asked this of a class of grade 9 students and to my astonishment they did not come back with money or fame, but eloquently stated 'success is defined by the goals we accomplish'. How profound and true is that! Success is defined by the goals we set. So in actuality, success is defined differently by all of us and has many unique attributes to the concept. Unfortunately, for the same group of students, I asked a follow up question, 'So if you define success by the goals you achieve, what are you goals?'. You could of heard a pin drop. How ironic. They were able to accurately define success but were not going to be successful because they had not set any goals.

Although I was impressed by the grade 9 response to success, I was perplexed that they were not setting goals to experience victory. I don't think this phenomenon stops at these students. It happens to all of us. You, me and a lot of the people we know. In these tough times, set realistic goals so you too can experience the thrill of victory. Not too big, just big enough to get a taste of success so you will want more.

JPH