It is a common problem for people to spend so much time and energy focused on mastering their skills and climbing the ladder of success that they forget to spend the time necessary to know that they building their skills in the right direction or that their ladder is leaning against the correct wall.  Could you imagine for a moment that after 20 years of progressively building your skills and advancing your career that you realize you have built a career in a direction that you didn't want to go?  Can you also imagine that after building a suite of skills and capability in a particular subject matter that you really don't want to use those skills? It is hugely important to take time to reflect and plan the direction you want to take your career, your personal definition of success, and the skills you want to build.  As Lewis Carol said in Alice in Wonderland, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.”  As such, do the work necessary to know where it is you want to go, the direction that you want your career to take, and your personal definition of success.

You don't have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.  Michael Dell

Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.  Anne Sweeney

Too many people measure how successful they are by how much money they make or the people that they associate with. In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are.  Richard Branson