Yesterday we talked a little about leadership. When I think about leadership, normally the idea of success enters the picture in my mind. So today I am thinking about what it means to be a success or successful.
Patrick Lencioni, in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, has one of the best definitions of success I have seen. He defines success this way:
Success is not a matter of mastering subtle sophisticated theory, but rather of embracing common sense with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence.
So often we think of success as a destination. We think, “when I just make supervisor, I will be successful” or “when I have that second house in the mountains, then I will be a success.” Or, in the church we might think, “when we reach ‘x’ many in Sunday School, then our church will be successful.”
What Lencioni is saying is success in not a destination, it is what happens along the way. We don’t become successful when we develop and follow a specific set of steps to reach a place. Success is not a fluke of lining up all the elements of life into the perfect sequence and then “POW” – success.
Success is really found in understanding what needs to be done and then being committed and persistent enough to do it day in and day out. Thus understood, success my look different for you than it does for me. It is more about defining your purpose in life and then living every day to carry it out.
Are you hoping to be “successful” some day or are you being successful today? Your choice.
Clay in the Hands 
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