“We must not rest on our laurels and instead continue to do things that equate to success.”

Achievement is great and we are bound to do great things as long as we set our goals accordingly. How long do we rely or lean on our past successes? If all we do is talk about what we’ve done last year or five years ago what does that say about us? Are we resting on our laurels so much so that are frontal view is blocked because we are only looking in the past. Janet has a very famous line from one of her more popular songs where she asks the question “what have you done for me lately?” We may need to ask ourselves what have we done lately that is a continuance to our life success.  We don’t get a pass in life just because we had some success. There are singers and groups that get put into a category called “one-hit wonders” denoting that they only had one relevant song and nothing else worth noting after their success. Our lack of persistence to strive for excellence could be the main reason we have not done anything lately.

A sports team wins a championship and they celebrate this momentous achievement which was a result of a collective effort by the coaches, players and the others that contributed to the team’s success. The great teams celebrate for a brief period and then begin to get ready for the next season. Is this why they are so successful? Success for us as individuals is also only momentary, we celebrate and we must move on to what’s next. Regular life resets, creating goals and expecting more from life are great ways to continue success. A relationship does not last because we were a great catch 5 years ago; however, it lasts because we continue to do things that make our mates happy and feel appreciated. At our jobs we expect the same performance review score each year even though we have not done anything new the next year. With every new goal or challenge we can expect to take a few steps backwards until we grow from our new challenge. The growth eventually propels us forward and with that growth comes success. Our accomplishments should be the triggers to ask ourselves the question, what’s next? Success is not a one-time thing but it is momentary and even more importantly success must be continual as we avoid resting on our laurels and do things that equate to success!