The legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden coined his definition of success in 1934 when he was a high school English teacher. He noticed that students had different levels of skill and ability. Some were better athletes than students and vice versa. In his English class, he noticed that one student could work up to his highest level of ability and earn a ‘C’ letter grade. Another student (maybe with much more advanced abilities) had the ability to earn an ‘A’ but only put enough effort to achieve a ‘B’ letter grade.
Which student would you consider a success in this example?
Frustrated by this discrepancy of perceived success (the B student was viewed as more successful than the C student) John Wooden crafted his definition of success as “peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” [3]
Sometimes we can distract and frustrate ourselves when we compare our situation with IBD to others without this condition.
We can often ask ourselves, “Why do they seem to achieve so much more? Why are they able to keep going when I need to stop and rest so often?”
So take a pause, a nice deep breathe, while you consider what you want to be your rules to gauge your achievements and success. A simple way to do this is to define what success means for you.
Give it a realistic timeframe. Give it an actionable and do-able quality.
An example might look like this.
“Since I just got out of the hospital yesterday my definition of success with IBD is to be able to walk around the block on my own without rest within 10 days.”
Defining success is yours and yours alone. Whatever you choose to make it resonate with you, make it motivating, and make it something that you feel comfortable and confident in achieving.
Enjoy your moment when you achieve your success. Savor it! Then quickly set another definition of success that will help you improve your life with IBD.
Try this:
Write out your current definition of success with your IBD.
