Here’s to success — however you define it

By Sheena Myles

Success — do you remember how old you were when you first heard the word? Felt pressure to attain it? Actually bothered to look up the definition? Success is a noun defined as attainment of an aim or goal, popularity or profit. Did anyone ever tell you about the path to success? I can’t say I recall ever being a part of the conversation. I know it was never an assignment presented in class.

As we were thrown into adulthood, we began to chase the proverbial success — each goal more and more lofty. Examples are all around of us of what success is supposed to look like, and rarely do we attain what society has taught us to obtain. The verb attain means to achieve, accomplish or succeed in reaching a goal (usually through some effort). The verb obtain means to acquire or get possession of something. However, sometimes we actually reach the top shelf without the ladder. How exciting is that?

Goals achieved make us happy. They bring a certain joy that is unmistakable to our psyche. It makes us never stop trying; it’s what keeps us going. The innate drive to bargain time for a wish list is the basic construct of business. Being a woman in business is its own special endeavor. We have to make it; failure is not an option.

We must evolve and grow. Businesses become like family, and we are charged with ensuring their success. Their success is a reflection of us and our dedication. The greatest achievement is when our baby grows into an adult or we have the chance to leave corporate America and the rat race to focus solely on the science experiment that is entrepreneurship. We figure out what is important in life, who we are and what our strengths are. We get to live on our terms. Every setback becomes an opportunity to learn something about ourselves and bring something new into the world. We get to follow our bliss.

Successful businesswomen are poster children for the difficulty of having faith, no matter how much we are told seeing is believing. We keep going. We go until we see what we have been believing. We speak to our mountains, and we weather the storms. We grin and bear it. We continue to show up. We face each day, monitor every dollar and never miss a practice, birthday or girls’ night out. We are the keepers of the economy. Congratulations to us!