December Topic: Define Success
By Cheryl Clark with Clark Strategies
Crazy enough I don’t want to define it.
I’m going to go in two different directions with this blog and this specific blog prompt. Thank you, Jamie!
#1 – I don’t want to define success. Is it crazy that I think if I define success, I may also be limiting it? I’d be confining it to my definition based on my current circumstances, goals, and understanding.
Stick with me here!
In Grade 5, you may have defined success as passing math, or not getting caught skipping school or having that special hallway boy or girl reach out for your hand in passing. Any of those may have been ‘success’ in your eyes. Imagine defining success and sticking with a definition based on that analogy? A little far-fetched but I hope you get where I am heading with this.
I don’t want to define it – it’s moving and shifting and some days moment by moment as I continue stepping forward. John C. Maxwell shared in one of his talks that success is not a destination but a movement. I like that. I see that movement as a movement of self and a positive movement of others – I think success is NOT a solo game either.
#2 – I believe to find something you must know what you are looking for. You can not find what you don’t seek. You can not find something if you don’t know what it is you are looking to get.
This thought process leads me to think boy oh boy I need to define success and be very specific and articulate in my definition so that I know exactly what I am looking for and more importantly, so I know when I have found it.
I recall a networking event where one of the participants shared their goal was to make more money this month. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a dollar bill (back when there were dollar bills), and handed it to her. I said, “you now have made a dollar more than you were expecting this month”. The room chuckled. It was a point well received. We need to be more specific in our goals, and I take that down to we need to be more successful in our definition of success as well.
However, is success really what we are craving? Is that the end goal – to say I was successful? Is success merely an umbrella and so many items must fit under it such as time freedom, monetary gains, legacy, and others? Is success what I am chasing? Hmmm.
