What Defines Success?

When you listen to all these personal development shows and podcasts, there is a common question that gets asked. “How do you define success”? Or “What is success to you”?

Now, these are great questions and I’m always curious to the answer. Do they answer with material possessions? The ability to do something with their money? How do they spend their time? Always a fascinating answer.

What I hadn’t done, is take the time to answer it for myself. What success actually looks like for me in my life. Now, I do have things posted up on my vision board. I have the beautiful home with a vineyard. A gorgeous blue Patek Phillipe watch. The Ford Raptor that I just think is an awesome truck. Those are all on my vision board.

These would all make me successful in one area of my life. But what would my relationship with my wife look like with all these material possessions? Will it be better? What will my time commitments look like when I have all these?

Now, these types of questions are ones that take some time to truly think about. It’s not a small answer, or inconsequential. It is a very relevant and important question. Because if I know what that should look like, then I will have a better ability to make it a reality.

Taking this back a step, if that is the result of my success, then what is the process by which I get there? As I’m seeing and experiencing firsthand with my running, when I stick to a process and proven plan, then I have a higher chance of success. Because the process gets me closer to my goals. The process is proven to work.

So what does that look like? To me, it looks like writing a book. Making myself the process guy. Showing people that there is a proven process to get what you want. Showing others the journey I took and helping them get the outcomes they want in life.

Now, the thing with processes is that they must be robust. They have to be proven. Once proven and shown that that works, others can use it too.

Creating the systems and processes for myself, proving they work, and then passing those along to others is what I am going to do. Starting in the A/E world that I know best. Showing that with a proven process and system firms can be more productive, and profitable and the whole firm can work normal hours. With the goal of reducing their stress and doubling their quality of life by helping firms implement a proven system.

Systems are what allow Mcdonald's to hire teenagers and practically run their entire operation with them. That is how good their systems are. Without a system in place workflows take longer. Profits decrease. The morale goes down. Every measurable KPI decreases.

This isn’t the world you want to live in. So the more systems you can put in place and the more structures you have, the better. I believe this to be my calling. Helping firms improve their systems and process with the end goal of doubling productivity and doubling quality of life across the board.