I was recently coached by a dear friend and talented coach, Jody Low-A-Chee, who quickly identified where I was keeping myself in a painful thought pattern. She encouraged me to redefine for myself what it means to be successful, and as I wrote in my journal on that, I realized I was internally holding myself to a socially driven definition of success, even though I don’t agree with that definition, and getting frustrated when I don’t measure up. (A no-win situation, to be sure.) I believe to be truly successful, we each need to define what success means to us. I began a free-flow of ideas on what success looks and feels like to me now:
- Success is enjoying the outcome no matter what you accomplish (or don’t).
- Success is being free to make your own choices of how you will spend your time, your energy, your resources and being satisfied with the choices you made.
- Success is being at peace with where you are and dreaming new dreams of where you want to go next.
- Success is allowing yourself time to savor the good and the hard-fought challenges.
- Success is sharing your accomplishments and failures — owning them all with humility.
- Success is more than just surviving; it’s thriving in spite of it all and smiling anyway.
- Success is finding joy and laughter through the pain and storms of life.
- Success is finding reasons to celebrate and give thanks when all seems lost.
- Success is being at peace and knowing that you are enough.
- Success is finding the light in the darkness, finding yourself again and coming home to yourself.
- Success is being okay with who you are — all that is wonderful about you and all that is boring, ridiculous or embarrassing — and having the courage to stand up and proudly say, “Yes, this is Who I Am.”
- Success is following your dreams even when it seems impossible, even when everyone tells you it can’t be done.
- Success is living your life on your terms and having the willingness to redefine those terms when what used to fit doesn’t fit anymore.
- Success is being me, being true to myself in every moment, being kind and compassionate with myself.
How do you define success? What does it look like for you? I’d love to hear YOUR definition in the comments below.