How Do You Define Success?

Most professionals would agree that they want to be successful, but what does that really mean? The less clarity you have around this, the less likely you are to actually feel successful. It’s easy to coast along, working towards “success”, but actually taking the time to define that success isn’t something we always make time to do. When we do make time for it, though, we can supercharge our forward progress. Here are some things to consider when you’re defining success.

Create a Vision

Making things visual is powerful. What does success look like to you? What are the details? How does it feel? The more you can fill in this picture for yourself, the better. You might consider what being successful right now looks like as well as what it would mean five years down the line. From there, you can connect that vision to your goals. Once you have that clear picture in your mind of where you want to go, it becomes easier to identify the specific things you’ll need to achieve to get there.

Consider Failure

How does failure factor into your definition of success? Is it the opposite of success, or simply something you might encounter along the way? Is it a total roadblock or an obstacle to overcome? When you allow room for failure in your path to success, you make it easier to take the risks necessary to get where you want to go. Failure isn’t always a sign that you’re doing something wrong. Sometimes, it’s part of the learning process and path to success. When you’re prepared for some bumps along the way, they’re less likely to throw you off course.

Keep it Fluid

So often, we talk about success as a fixed point that we’ll reach sometime in the future. When you take the time to really define success for yourself though, you’ll likely adopt a much more fluid definition, and this is incredibly valuable. When success is a fixed point always a ways ahead, it can feel like endless striving with no satisfaction. Instead, when we set targets that allow ourselves to reach a point of success now, we boost motivation and morale to continue striving. From there, we can redefine success for ourselves and continue reaching for new levels of accomplishment.

Celebrate Victories

When you’ve defined what success looks like for yourself this year, take a moment to celebrate when you start accomplishing some of those things laid out in your vision. As I mentioned above, it’s so easy to see success as a point out there that we’re always trying to reach. By stopping to acknowledge those victories and success as you reach them, you’ll see just how much you’re capable of doing, and that is a powerful source of motivation.

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Do you have a clear definition of success for yourself? Is it something you revisit periodically? Do you allow yourself to celebrate the successes you experience now, even while you’re striving for more? I’d love to hear what you think