Redefining Success

I was watching a TED talk with the late, great coach John Wooden the other day, and was interested to hear his definition of success.  Wooden said that we have to separate “winning” from succeeding.  They are simply not the same thing.

You could say that Wooden knows a thing or two about winning.  He won 10 NCAA basketball tournaments in just a 12 year period.  So it was interesting to hear him say that winning does not equal success.  Instead he said that it’s all about doing the best that you personally can do.  If you are personally doing the best that you can do, then you are succeeding at the highest level.  The goal in life, then, is to increase our capacity for doing our best.  

If he’s right, and I believe he is, there’s a lot of  good news here.  Even losers can be successful.

The Bible says that “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Colossians 3:23).  Success in this verse is defined as doing our best for God, not as winning. 

So what are you trying to win at?  More money?  A bigger house?  Perfect kids?  Some achievement?  Climbing the ladder?  And why are you trying to win at it?

Perhaps it’s time to consider a new definition of success.