What does success mean to me now versus 10 years ago? 20? How do I define it?

The Illusion of Success

By Randy Hain

My father came to our house for a visit last summer, which he typically does two or three times a year. He loves to see his grandsons and we talk to him every week by phone, but for health reasons it is sometimes difficult for him to travel from his Florida home to Atlanta. I have occasionally written about my dad over the years and the wise counsel and good example I have always received from him. This particular weekend visit was different because of a powerful lesson he helped me teach my one of my children.

On the Saturday afternoon of my dad’s visit, my younger son and I were throwing the baseball outside while my father was taking a short nap in his room. I can always tell when one of my boys has something on his mind so I probed and asked him if everything was alright. He responded with, “Dad, remember when we talked about what it means to be successful a few weeks ago? Is Papa successful?”

Wow! That was an interesting and mature question from my youngest child. He was referring to a conversation we had a few months ago about being successful in business and what kind of career he wanted to have after college. I gave him a thoroughly modern version of what I thought success looked like in business and made sure we talked about having strong faith and the importance of starting and caring for a family some day as well. I kept it at a high level for him at that time, but his question about my father deserved a deeper answer.

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