My Surprising Definition of Success

Photo by Upsplash

I was at a live event this weekend and the facilitator asked a seemingly simple but powerful question:

“What is your definition of success?”

The question landed and took root.

It’s been a question I’ve been wrestling with the past few months.

One of my colleagues chimed in:

“My definition of success is to make millions. Save millions. Help millions. And spend millions…”

Sounds good, right?

But that answer didn’t sit with me.

I couldn’t help asking myself, then what?

For the first time, I realized what my real definition of success was.

And it didn’t contain the world “millions”.

I realized that my definition of success was not a number or a set of life circumstances (the car, the yacht, the white picket fence).

My definition of success is a feeling.

A state of being. 

It’s the simultaneous acceptance and gratitude for what is and aspiration and action towards what can be.

For me, it’s about fully accepting where I am on the journey, and all the challenges and opportunities I face.

It’s about letting go of any sense of woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Letting go of trying to prove myself.

Letting go of the stress and overwhelm and feeling like I can never do enough or be enough.

It’s about accepting and savoring this moment in time.

And most of all it’s about accepting myself. 

Loving myself for both my shadow and my light.

Expressing myself authentically in every moment.

And choosing exactly where I want to focus my energy and attention so I can maintain this state of being, this feeling of success… no matter what.

So, let me ask you, what is your definition of success?

If you really sit with this question, your answer may surprise you…

I know my answer has set me free…

The more I let go of the grasping and struggling and comparing, the more I appreciate how far I’ve really come and look ahead with quiet confidence.

And the irony is that the more I accept, appreciate and let go, the more “making millions” and “helping millions” seems easy.

There is no doubt in my mind that I’m capable of meeting any challenge or opportunity. And there is no doubt in my mind that you are capable too.

Now go out there and Live Your Message.