Success in definition, WIN-R speaker says
by Vanessa Herron, reporter

    Students should define success for themselves and take steps to make it become a reality, the founder of the Women’s Center of Tarrant County told South Campus students last week.

   Karen Perkins presented Transitions to Success, sponsored by the Women in New Roles program.

   “Life is a process. We are never complete. When we die, the learning stops but it’s not finished. Human growth and development is a continuing process. We must learn to love the process,” she said.

   Perkins stressed that almost all students have most of what they need to succeed: brains, personality, innate talents, skills, the ability to learn and acquire knowledge and a unique set of life circumstances.

   “The key to attaining success is knowing what to do with all of the components that each one of us has been given,” she said.

   Perkins allowed the audience to practice free-writing exercises to assist them in exploring their true wants and desires and stressed that people should be honest with themselves.

   “We spend a lot of time striving for success, as others see it for us,” she said.

   “We are given cultural messages of who we are and what we can or cannot do. We will never be happy until we decide for ourselves what we want,” she said.

   Perkins also displayed a process for the audience members to use.

   “Ask what do I want, and where am I now?” she said.

   Students should never give up, Perkins said.

   “Failure doesn’t matter much. It’s not trying that’s the killer. It’s not thinking big enough,” she said.

   During a question-and-answer session, one student asked what to do if someone knows a goal but still gets stuck.

   “That’s the time to go and reassess step one of your process, which is asking yourself what you really want. Perhaps you are stuck because your wants have changed,” Perkins replied.

   Perkins ended her presentation by telling students to repeat a mantra to themselves for self-encouragement:

   “Say to yourself, ‘I will not be defeated. I may be derailed, impoverished. But in me, there is a spark, and I can fan that spark myself,’” she said.