Many people have their own idea of what success means to them.  It may mean a great paying job, a comfortable home, a healthy lifestyle, honorable status or...you fill in the blanks.  It is a matter of perspective to the person being asked, and you may not get the same answer if you randomly select a group of people.  But think about it.  What does success mean to you, personally?  At school?  At work?  I believe that success is the sum of three elemental parts: organization, action, and planning; and how we process the "things" that happen to us daily as a result of these elemental parts. 

Organization is being able to organize and archive the results, after you have processed the "things".  At school or at work it is impossible for you to keep all of your results on your desk or your desktop.  Organization is maintaining the results, so you may always refer back to it.  If you have an archive/filing system, you will not have to remember every detail.

Action is processing the "thing" when you get it.  The complexity of the "thing" will determine the action taken.  I regard action as being in the present, because you are acting on something to produce results.

Planning is the future.  You need to plan what you need to do tomorrow, next week, next month and so on.  Planning sets your course for where you expect to be.  The more your plan unfolds, the more "things" happen for you to take action on, and organize the results.

It may seem like a vicious cycle, but with school responsibilities or work responsibilities, "things" impact us constantly.  How we handle that cycle is the key to success.  Success is when these three elements are in synch.  For example, when you properly plan, "things" are usually generated.  It can be "things" you need to do like paperwork or emails.  You take action on those "things" by processing what you have to do with it, and it generally produces results.  You then organize the results into files for archive purposes.  Look at what you do and see if it follows the same process.

With the amount of "things" I need to process at work, success is feeling that I have planned accordingly, taken the correct action and organized the results for future reference.  That is my success...what is yours?

Craig Changfoot