Equipping young women professionals with young families to find fulfillment, contentment and joy as mothers and home makers without losing sight of who they are as women.

Volume 01 Issue 08: Value Equation

Have you defined your success? Success means different things to different people. One person’s success is not another person’s success. What does success mean to you? You must define your success statement to know what it means to you specifically. If you have already defined your success, what are you doing to attain it? Success is not a matter of chance; it’s a matter of choice. It’s not something to be waited for; it’s something to be achieved. To succeed we must have specific goals to aim for. Goals are the steps we take along the way to attain our success. There must be things that you want to accomplish in this lifetime; things that you want to make a difference in; contributions that you want to make. How will you know you have accomplished them unless you set your goals? The tragedy in life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The real tragedy of life lies in not having a goal to reach for. Anthony Gitonga, in Pathway to Purpose, emphasizes this thought. “When set, goals determine our pathway of navigation to success. In the absence of goals there’s no desire to make a difference. What do you really want to do? Write it down, then go for it!”

To know your goals you must self reflect. Take time to critically self reflect. Self reflection raises self awareness. It is in the process of self awareness that we discover what we value. Success is uncovered in the diligent pursuit of the things that we value. To help you discover what you value, ask yourself the following questions;

• Where do I spend my time?
• Where do I spend my money?
• Where do I spend my energy?

Do the things that you value come together with the way you spend your time, money and energy? Your value equations determine how you spend your time, money and energy. For instance, if you say you value your family, qualify it by assessing the adequacy of your time and energy that you spend on and with your family. It is worth noting that every time you say “yes” to one thing, you say “no” to another. For instance, every time you give in to an extra hour of sleep beyond what your body requires, you automatically say “no” to engaging in an activity that would develop you. Every time you say “yes” to working late you say “no” to spending time with your family. Whenever you do this, consider the value the thing you said “no” to would have given you had you chosen it. Knowing what we value leads to self choice and action. Self action leads to self discipline, self mastery, self leadership and subsequently, success. Once you define what success means to you, come up with clear activities and clear disciplines that you must do every day to achieve your goals.

Lillian Chebosi