Success Secrets They Don't Want You to Know

Success is too often defined as celebrity, money, or power.

Do Something

A colleague, an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota, was about to deliver an early morning lecture. He stood in his heavy coat, and pronounced it to be a super frigid day.

The students groaned in agreement.

He then asked: "What are we going to do about it?"

Silence.

Then, everybody laughed as he removed his coat to reveal a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt.

It takes effort to do something. My colleague went to the trouble of wearing a Hawaiian shirt. His students probably learned more that morning as a result.

Positive Thinking

I believe in approaching problems, I mean opportunities, positively. However, the "power of positive thinking" is generally debunked.

That you will become healthy, wealthy, and wise just by thinking positively is a cruel lie.

Magical Thinking

It's so much easier not to learn science, or to believe something "out there" is responsible for life's circumstances.

Process

I'm an engineer. Engineers chunk the big stuff into manageable chunks. Engineers dream, but then they do something.

Truisms

For many of the engineers I know, motivational truisms are annoying.

Wake up and dream

I made that one up: dreaming is important, but it is not an end in itself.

Rather than truisms, I have been posting one or more Tweets a day about something I actually did that day. I started this exercise last August and will continue until this coming August.

Finding joy in the little, everyday activities that make each day good. That's how I define success.

Notes: The title of this post is tongue-in cheek. I generally do not click through when I see teaser titles.
I took the Security Notice photograph at one of my client's offices. Behind that door, scientists and engineers are creating stuff that will improve the quality of people's lives.
This post reflects my world view, and my definition of success: there are no absolute definitions.