The True Feeling Of Success

A man reexamines his life and discovers some unappreciated moments of joy.

- Michael Graff

I was having coffee this morning with a dear friend who’s going through a difficult time at work. In one of those moments that make you wonder who’s winding the clock of life, my phone buzzed while we were sitting there. It was an e-mail from my old friend Ryan, and all I saw was the subject line: “Success.”

Some 17 years ago, Ryan and I were sportswriters at “competing” small newspapers in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. We had about a half dozen high schools, a Division III university, and a summer baseball league in our coverage area. In that lava-hot turf war, we somehow became friends.

We’ve kept in touch, but it’d been a few months since we’d talked when this curiously timed e-mail arrived. He said he was preparing a speech for the next week. He’s now a project manager for a research firm near Washington, and the speech he was going to give was titled “How Do You Define Success?” I’ve contributed to a publication called Success, so he turned the question to me: “How do you define success?” I thought of my coffee conversation and typed this:

Hey, man,

Good to hear from you again. And good timing. Your e-mail came in just as I was chatting with another friend, who’s going through one of those rough spells at work. I wish I had better advice.

What a broad question!