What is success?  Is it an amount of money?  Is it a title?  “What is success” is not a new question.  Intuitively, we know that success is an individual pursuit.  Unfortunately, too often we contemplate our success through the eyes of others.  We pursue a vision that we don’t own.  If we realize the vision, the feelings we anticipated upon arrival are shallow and short-lived.  Now what?

I recently broke out my journal and asked the question, what is the most common train or characteristic of some of the most admired “successful people”?  Think Warren Buffet, Mother Teresa, Michael Phelps, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, or Richard Branson.  All of these admired success stories had different starts.  Their success came in different ways.

My thought then transitioned to the people I most admired in my own life.  The not-so-famous success stories that command the same level of respect...