Success: A New Perspective

We’ve all got our own definitions of what ‘success’ means. In this guest post, Success: A New Perspective  from Linda Bucher, she shares how success was redefined for her, and how we can all benefit from the lessons she learned.

Exhausting is how I’d describe most of my adult life. It had become a never ending production of long hours spent climbing the corporate ladder in pursuit of the big house, nice car and six-figure salary. I worked hard. I impressed the right people. I accomplished. But the more I achieved those goals, the more exhausted I became and the less I felt like me. By my mid forties, I began to question just who I was and just what I was doing.

The reason for my exhaustion and discontent was that what I was striving for wasn’t actually success; it’s what I thought success should look like. I had spent the better part of 25 years chasing someone else’s definition of success. That definition was influenced by my upbringing, the picture of success portrayed in MTV Cribs and my perception of “successful” people in my field. In the midst of all of these influences, I had never even asked myself what I really wanted.

Chasing someone else’s definition of success is like trying to fit into someone else’s skin: it never quite fits and it ultimately feels repulsive. If you can relate, it’s a safe bet that the Who, What, Where, When, and How of your actions are not in alignment with who you are.

Success: A New Perspective And A New Definition

Consider replacing the definition of success you’ve been operating under with a personal definition of success: one that reflects who you are. When you live by your definition of success, life and work take on a whole new feel. It’s so much easier to align your focus with your personal definition of success, so you’ll find yourself naturally motivated. When your actions are fueled with positive emotions, it’s easy to stay on track and cultivate success that much sooner. Below are 3 steps to creating your personal definition of success:

Step 1: Know This: You are at the center of your success

You are the writer, producer, director, stage manager and set designer of your life. You are also the star. Redefining success entails that you look deeply into who you are and what is really important to you. Why? Because when you wrap what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and how you’re doing it around who you are, success goes from concept to reality. Success is about you and for you and, when it’s defined with this in mind, it feels natural, joyful and is fun to maintain.

Step 2: Cast These 3 Staring Roles

On the stage of your successful life you’ll find three main players: Freedom, Fulfillment and Life Balance. Casting the right players in these roles is at the heart of redefining success for who you are and requires you to define these roles carefully.

Freedom

At the heart of many of our desires is a yearning for freedom. Take a closer look at the types of freedoms that are important to you and list them. Then dive in further to discover what you’d do with each type of freedom you desire. Would you travel the world? Never set an alarm again? Take a walk every day? As you ponder your reasons for wanting these freedoms, you’ll discover deeper motivations that you can use to begin building your personal definition of success.

Life Balance

Does your life feel like a juggling act? When your life is unbalanced, you’re always in a state of shifting and longing because something is always getting shorted. Success, when it’s personalized for who you are, includes a life balance that feels delicious to you, based in your deepest desires, not from your perceived roles and responsibilities. Honing in on the perfect life balance between your career, your relationships and yourself requires you to get rid of your beliefs about how much time and energy you’re supposed to allot to different areas of your life and feel your way into proportions that make you feel buoyant. How would you ideally allot your precious capacity and energy?

Fulfillment

Incorporating fulfillment into your definition of success gives meaning to what you’re doing. Fulfillment incorporates concepts like personal values, purpose, and satisfaction and it’s entirely feelings-based. When designing a personal definition of success, I often ask my clients to associate fulfillment with their five senses as a starting point. What does fulfillment look, sound, feel, taste and smell like for you? What else brings you those sensations?

Step 3: Consider Money a Supporting Role

You were wondering where the money part comes in, weren’t you? Money should not have a starring role in your life, however it is an important supporting character for the freedom, life balance and fulfillment you desire. In casting the role of money for your life, there’s an important caveat: money and the things you purchase with it should never be used as a measuring stick.

This means that how much you make and what you own simply must not be considered a measure of your self-worth, your achievement, how you stack up against others, or your success. If money can’t be used as a measuring stick, how much money will you’ll need to support the freedom, life balance and fulfillment you desire? If money couldn’t be used as a measuring stick, what would you buy? Where would you live? What would you drive? Where would you vacation? What charities would you support? Calculate the amount of money you’ll require to support your personal definition of success. Take away the measuring stick and you might require less money than you thought.

It’s high time your definition of success reflects who you are and what you want. Why not give it a try? When you know what success truly looks like for you, it’s so much easier to recognize when you get there. Heck, you may be there already.