By Pam Daniels

If I had to define success it would be something akin to Webster's: (noun) the achievement of something desired, intended or attempted. All of which is very personal to me as a woman and as the kind of person I aspire to be. So, what put me at the top of my game and enjoying my career?

First, it was necessary to identify what is important to me. Family, work, community, and my faith provide the needed passion to pursue success. And in that pursuit comes is the feeling of accomplishment . It makes me feel successful. Whether what I've done is big or small, personal or professional -– having accomplished something is a powerful elixir.

Second, I have to tell you about something I have been teased for since childhood –- my "to-do" lists. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when yellow "sticky notes" were created! Both at home and at my office, I am known as the "sticky note Queen" and I love it. They are tools to get things done. And when done -- voile la -- you have accomplished something and can enjoy that feeling of success you get when you cross things off the list! With all of us experiencing "crowded lives" ... we have to take our accomplishments where we can get them.

Third, it was my pleasure to grow up very blessed with parents who told me, "You can do anything you set your mind to do." Their belief in me, my value, my worth and that that if I truly applied myself and my skills -- educationally, physically or experientially -- I could accomplish whatever goals I set for myself. In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can. After all, if you don't believe in yourself, who will? To be successful –- even as a woman in a masculine world -- doesn't mean instantly proficient at everything but that you believe you can become proficient through education, experience, and application of the natural gifts, skills, and abilities you already have.

Fourth, I'd have to say that attitude is key to just about everything we do in life. My grandmother frequently told me, "Nobody wants to be around a sour puss." That holds true as children and certainly as adults. Attitude is extremely contagious –- especially if you add a measure of humor and passion.

Fifth, the adage, "Never Give Up" belies strength and has often been the determinant in my own success. If at first you don't succeed, try again. I have applied this to rule to my personal life as well as professional. When I was working hard to raise my children to be responsible, ethical, valued citizens I too had challenges that seemed insurmountable. I worked through the difficulties in a marriage, kept active in new sports and hobbies (that would be golf for me), completed my educational goal, and then had to paint a house, garden, and complete the other domestic tasks. Why? Because that's what it took to get what and where I wanted. Giving up would have been easier but it was never an option.

Sixth, in our professional and personal lives, success is also about celebrating the "smaller level" stuff as we strive for larger accomplishments. For me, an example of this was a huge $1.2 million dollar multi-level project to transfer Superior Court paper records to digital and to create a digital record management system. My office staff and its six divisions began the arduous task of identifying every type of approximately 10,000 pages a day that came through Superior Court and then to organize 10 million filed documents. As a team we processed, thought, planned, hired vendors, and built the system one step at a time. Three years later, when we "flipped the switch" -– and my Superior Court entered the 21 st Century -– success was ours. By celebrating each step as one more building block in a massive project, we didn't feel overwhelmed, depressed or unwilling to continue.

It was "My Keys to Success" in Action:

• Be passionate for the task at hand
• Belief in our skills and abilities
• Willing to acquire new skills as needed
• Acknowledge our accomplishments every step of the way
• Kept a positive attitude with humor along the way
• Never gave up when tasks and deadlines got overwhelming

While there are so many ways we all attain success, the one I wish to sprinkle over all of the others is the need and value for passion! I had a legislator -- the one who held the purse strings -- tell me once that he didn't have a clue what I was talking about when it came to matters of the Superior Court. But, because I was so "passionate about it" he was hard pressed to tell me no –- and he voted YES -– and the legislative bill passed!!

Success in my book is about passion. You take that wonderful elixir in life and add to it the skills, abilities, gifts and talents to apply ourselves that I believe are God-given, and success becomes reality. It is me being myself, believing in what I have been given, and celebrating the big and small accomplishments. That gives me success day by day.

© 2005 Pam Daniels. All rights reserved.

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