Success means accomplishment. Success is a relative term. Success gives you a feeling of satisfaction. You have to define success for yourself in order to determine if you have achieved success. Do you want to be wealthy? Do you want to have power and/or social status? Do you want to be famous? Do you want to be a doctor, lawyer, or politician? Do you want to marry a “successful person”? Do you want to have children? Do you want your children to achieve certain goals? The list of what we believe constitutes success is endless.

Most people in the United States were born with a disadvantage or become disadvantaged. In my case, I was born Black and female and raised in poverty. Although most of the time I believe being born female is an advantage, our society leads us to believe it is a disadvantage. So, I go with it. Being disadvantaged requires us to pull from a supernatural source to overcome disadvantages to achieve success.

There are two principles that guarantee success: Trust God and do good. Sometimes I do not trust God and do good at the same time, but the principle still works when I try to do both at the same time. Also, doing good means doing good to yourself and others.

Success can be a combination of achievements. If you are like me, you achieve one goal and then decide to achieve another goal and another goal. Using myself as an example, I practice law, taught college courses, been thoroughly involved in politics and started a nonprofit that has yet to be fully realized. Who knows what else I will set my mind to do?

You are correct if you believe I have not achieved all of my goals when I wanted to achieve them but, to date, I have achieved 99% of my goals. Also, these achievements did not come without sacrifice. I sacrificed time spent with family, short-term gratification, and money. There are opportunity costs. Opportunity costs are what you give up getting something else.

If you trust God and do good, you will have the desires of your heart.