Success - what does it mean?
I met with a good friend today, a police officer struggling with life. We discussed what it means to be successful in policing and successful in life. It became quite evident to us that the standard of success is different for all of us and that the measurement that we often get trapped into in policing often has to do with promotion, rank, and position or function.
Another friend and I were speaking a few weeks ago about a mutual friend who is a retired mountie. I asked my friend how he was doing. " Great " he replied and went on to tell me about his financial success. The measurement of "great" became financial, and little to do with family, purpose in life, personal integrity, or loving relationships.
Steven Covey writes " most people spend their lives climbing the ladder of success, only to get to the top and realize that it is leaning against the wrong wall."
In our quest to "succeed" we ask ourselves how that is defined? What does it mean to us to have succeeded in life? Many of us have a different definition of success and spend much of our lives pursuing that definition. I would like to suggest a healthier and longer lasting definition for police officers who are struggling with their identity, purpose and meaning in life.
Who you are at your core will define your success. Who you desire to become will define your success. Virtues such as honor and courage, integrity and compassion, honesty and trustworthiness, depth of character and self-sacrificial love, service to others and working for a cause that is greater than our own comfort, pleasure or recognition; will mark the definition of true success in this life.
The re-evaluation of what it means to be successful marks the beginning of healing and change in our lives. Chasing the ever elusive standard of rank, position, material wealth,
power and recognition will leave you empty and frustrated as you discover that these standards will never bring peace or satisfaction into your life, and in fact if allowed to become obsessions, will often leave a wake of destruction behind you.
I say this from personal experience as my own measurement of what it means to be a success was challenged and my paradigm radically shifted. I encourage the profession and those within it to wrestle with the question of what it means to be a success. And I go on to challenge others : define who you are by immovable qualities that will far outlast any investigation you were involved in , rank you have achieved, or recognition you might have recieved.
Another friend and I were speaking a few weeks ago about a mutual friend who is a retired mountie. I asked my friend how he was doing. " Great " he replied and went on to tell me about his financial success. The measurement of "great" became financial, and little to do with family, purpose in life, personal integrity, or loving relationships.
Steven Covey writes " most people spend their lives climbing the ladder of success, only to get to the top and realize that it is leaning against the wrong wall."
In our quest to "succeed" we ask ourselves how that is defined? What does it mean to us to have succeeded in life? Many of us have a different definition of success and spend much of our lives pursuing that definition. I would like to suggest a healthier and longer lasting definition for police officers who are struggling with their identity, purpose and meaning in life.
Who you are at your core will define your success. Who you desire to become will define your success. Virtues such as honor and courage, integrity and compassion, honesty and trustworthiness, depth of character and self-sacrificial love, service to others and working for a cause that is greater than our own comfort, pleasure or recognition; will mark the definition of true success in this life.
The re-evaluation of what it means to be successful marks the beginning of healing and change in our lives. Chasing the ever elusive standard of rank, position, material wealth,
power and recognition will leave you empty and frustrated as you discover that these standards will never bring peace or satisfaction into your life, and in fact if allowed to become obsessions, will often leave a wake of destruction behind you.
I say this from personal experience as my own measurement of what it means to be a success was challenged and my paradigm radically shifted. I encourage the profession and those within it to wrestle with the question of what it means to be a success. And I go on to challenge others : define who you are by immovable qualities that will far outlast any investigation you were involved in , rank you have achieved, or recognition you might have recieved.
posted by Bob S at 10:38 a.m.
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