7 Overlooked Signs that you’re actually already successful

If you compare yourself to certain people, it’s easy to feel you’re unsuccessful. If you’re an entrepreneur and you compare yourself to Aliko Dangote, you lose. If you’re a musician and you compare yourself to Taylor Swift, you lose.

That’s the problem with comparisons. No matter how confident you feel, there will always be someone who is more successful. There will always someone better, or smarter, or wealthier, or seemingly more happy.

So, let’s stop comparing and just focus on you. Here are a few signs that you’re better-off than you might think—and, in all likelihood, happier, too:

1. You Have Enough Money That You Can Make Positive Choices

Many people live paycheck to paycheck. Worse, many have to decide between necessities. (My husband just mentioned the other day how once upon a time he had to decide between filling a prescription for an antibiotic or putting gas in his car.)

If you make enough money, and don’t spend so much money that you can make positive choices about what to do with some of it—whether it’s investing, or taking a vacation, or taking classes, anything you want to do instead of have to do—then you’re successful, both because you’ve escaped the paycheck-to-paycheck grind, and because you can leverage that extra money to become even more powerful.

2. You Have Close Friends

Close friendship are increasingly rare; one study found that the number of friends respondents felt they could discuss important matters with has dropped from an average of 2.94 to 2.08 in the last 20 years. (So much for the power of social media.)

If you have more than two or three close friends, be glad, not only for the social connection, but also because the positive effect of relationships on your life span is double what you get from exercising and just as powerful as quitting smoking.

And, where professional relationships are concerned...

3. You Choose the People Around You

Some people have employees who drive them nuts. Some people have customers who are obnoxious. Some people have casual acquaintances that are selfish, all-about-me jerks.

Guess what: They chose those people. Those people are in their professional or personal lives because they let them remain.

Successful people attract successful people. Hardworking people attract hardworking people. Kind people associate with kind people. Great employees want to work for great bosses.

If the people around you are people you want to be around you, you’re doing alright. (And, if they’re not, it’s time to start making some changes.)

4. You See Failure as Training

Failure sucks, but it’s also the best way to learn and grow. There will always be trials, challenges, and obstacles—but perseverance always wins in the end.

Every admirable person has failed numerous times. (Most of them have failed a lot more often than you. That’s why they’re so successful now.)

If you embrace every failure—if you own it, learn from it, and take full responsibility for making sure that next time things will turn out differently—then you’re already successful.

And in time, you’ll be even more successful, because you’ll never stop trying to be better than you are today.

5. You Don’t Ask for Anything

We’ve all experienced this moment: We’re having a great conversation, we’re finding things in common, and then, boom, the other person plays the “I need something” card.

And everything about the interaction changes.

What once appeared friendly has turned needy, almost grasping—and, if you’re like me, you feel guilty if you decide you don’t want to help.

People who feel successful aren’t needy. They accept help if offered, but they don’t feel the need to ask. In fact, they focus on what they can do for other people.

6. You Let Others Grab the Spotlight

OK, maybe you did do all the work. Maybe you did move mountains. Maybe you did kick butt and take names.

If you aren’t looking for praise or accolades, that means you’re successful. That means you feel proud on the inside, where it counts. You don’t need the glory; you know what you’ve achieved.

If you enjoy the validation of others, but don’t need it, you’re successful.

And you know it, even if you don’t show it.

7. You Have a Purpose

Successful people have a purpose. As a result, they’re excited, dedicated, passionate, and fearless.

And they share their passions with others.

If you’ve found a purpose—if you’ve found something that inspires you, fuels you, makes you excited to get up, get out, and achieve—then you’re successful, regardless of how much money you make or what other people think.

Why? Because you’re living life your way—and that’s the best sign of accomplishment there is.