Success

How do you define success?

Lemme help you with that.

You are already as successful as you want to be.

Some of you will not like hearing that. Here are a few non-comprehensive reasons excuses you have for not liking hearing it -

I have not achieved the goals I set.

Ok. Are you working on them? Actively working. What do you do when you get home from work (assuming you work). Are you putting effort into achieving your goals? Or, are you flopping down on a chair and moaning about being exhausted?

Some goals require an investment of time. It takes a few years to get an advanced college degree, for instance. If you are devoting ALL the needed resources to getting that degree, then you are successful right now.

I need to unwind. 

Far be it from me to tell you the amount of leisure is needed in your life. But if you are serious about reaching a goal, the effort needed to get there IS the leisure you need. If not, then re-evaluate whether or not that goal is truly worth achieving.

I do not have the time.

How much time do you need? You have 24 hours in a day. How are you using those hours? Do this for the next 48 hours. Carry a small notebook. Every 15 minutes, jot down what you did in those 15 minutes. You may record time napping or sleeping as one block of time. Don't wake up to make the notes. At the end of 48 hours, see how much time you devoted to being successful.

I am being held back,

Yes, you are. By yourself. Here is an example. Got kids? That was 100% a choice, unless you were raped. Regardless, you opted to have the kids when you had other viable alternatives. If you chose to have and raise children and are doing so then you are a success because you are achieving the goal you set for yourself.

You are the only person holding you back. Actions have consequences. Every action you take has a consequence. When you act, you choose to do that. Therefore, that is a success and the consequences are your reward for that. If you say I never expected these consequences then you are still a success. You devoted exactly enough resources to carry out the action and achieve the success you now experience.

Whatever example excuse of being held back you chose to use, I can absolutely point to decisions you made and make that you claim are holding you back.

I never asked for this.

That may be. No one asks to be struck with various diseases. How you react to those problems defines your success. 

I just can't.

Then don't. A person in a wheelchair cannot play major league baseball. A person in a wheelchair may want to play major league baseball, but that is a choice the person made. Pursuing imaginary goals is also success because you know you can never do it and you are absolutely bound to fall short. When you fall short, you have achieved the true goal you set for yourself.

As JMSIII said,"You can have anything you want." The problem is what say you want is not what you truly want.

Where you are right now is success because this is what you have devoted all your resources toward achieving. Again, you may not like this. Reality does not care what you think.