Defining Success

A little over a year ago, I asked some people I look up to and am inspired by to share their definition of success {here and here}. As a follow-up, I shared what success means to me and how I define it personally in my own life. In the post, I shared how my definition of success changed during that specific season of life and how I needed to remember that what success looks t0 me often looks very different to other people. And that is perfectly okay. In the post, I wrote:

“Previously, I never really took much time to think about success – but viewed it in terms of accomplishments: getting XYZ job, doing XYZ, accomplishing XYZ. The weird part was this – during college, I thought that graduating college with a degree I wanted was successful, I thought getting a job was successful, I thought dating someone “just perfect” was successful. While these three things are certainly not bad, I’ve learned they don’t equate to success in my book anymore. My views have completely shifted and I no longer think landing a dream job or having the perfect relationship equates to success. I’ve come to a point where I’ve seen people who ‘have everything’ and are ‘successful’ by the world’s standards; and then realize some of them are completely miserable. I’m done defining success based on items/experiences I check off a to-do list and instead view success based on who I am and who I strive to be day-to-day.“

About two weeks ago, I decided that I needed to remind myself how I define my own personal success and that it would be easiest to write it down and put in a place I would see everyday. I wrote my list down and hung it up right by my door – I literally can’t avoid reading it! What I love about this is that since writing the original post, my definition HASN’T changed. These are still the tried-and-true ways I look at being successful in my own life. The definition is six-fold and could also be viewed as life goals for myself. Here they are:

1. To help other people discover and maximize their potential
2. To radiate unconditional love – to everyone, every day
3. To live out God-given joy
4. To live with authentic integrity
5. To be surrounded {mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually} by people who encourage and challenge me
6. To be the best person I can be right where I’m at now

Sharing {or maybe it’s re-sharing} my definition of success on my blog was sparked after reading this awesome RELEVANT article. I love how the author defines success as: “living a life that is professionally-exciting, relationally-connected and spiritually-inspired.” The author challenged me to re-think my definition of success and maybe more importantly, to look at what I would be willing to give up to attain this success. Super interesting and definitely worth reading.

Now I want to hear from you – how do you define success in your life? I’d love to hear! xo