"Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be"
About this Quote
Sheehan reframes success as an interior act of authorship rather than an exterior scoreboard, and that’s the quiet provocation. The triumvirate he lists - courage, determination, will - isn’t inspirational confetti; it’s a manual for sustained self-confrontation. Courage implies risk and social friction: becoming “the person you believe you were meant to be” almost always disappoints someone else’s plan for you. Determination and will signal that this isn’t a one-time leap but a daily grind against inertia, doubt, and the seductive ease of living as a smaller version of yourself.
The phrase “you believe” does a lot of work. It admits that destiny here isn’t metaphysical proof; it’s subjective conviction. Sheehan sidesteps the trap of promising certainty. He’s basically saying: you don’t get to outsource the definition of your life to metrics, institutions, or even “talent.” You make a claim about who you are, then you earn it through behavior. That’s why the quote lands as both motivational and slightly accusatory: if success is internal alignment, the excuse of bad luck or bad timing doesn’t fully absolve you.
Context matters. Sheehan wrote in a late-20th-century America enamored with achievement and status, yet he emerged from a culture of endurance (he was famously tied to distance running and the philosophy of effort). His definition of success reads like a counter-program to resume worship: not “win,” but “become,” and accept the cost.
The phrase “you believe” does a lot of work. It admits that destiny here isn’t metaphysical proof; it’s subjective conviction. Sheehan sidesteps the trap of promising certainty. He’s basically saying: you don’t get to outsource the definition of your life to metrics, institutions, or even “talent.” You make a claim about who you are, then you earn it through behavior. That’s why the quote lands as both motivational and slightly accusatory: if success is internal alignment, the excuse of bad luck or bad timing doesn’t fully absolve you.
Context matters. Sheehan wrote in a late-20th-century America enamored with achievement and status, yet he emerged from a culture of endurance (he was famously tied to distance running and the philosophy of effort). His definition of success reads like a counter-program to resume worship: not “win,” but “become,” and accept the cost.
Quote Details
| Topic | Success |
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