What’s Your Success?

What does success look like to you? Is it becoming CEO of your own Company? A Teacher? Astronaut? Chef? Or is it to be happy? Satisfied with what you have? Earning a certain amount? Owning your own home?

We are made to feel like you have to go big or go home when it comes to success, the bigger the better, showing how good you are. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

If you want to be a CEO, have made it, and you feel successful because of it then congratulations. I am sure you are very proud and you should be, it is a fantastic achievement. The same goes if you want to own your own home and do, it is very personal to you and you should feel successful, but it doesn’t mean if you rent a house, you aren’t.

Our goals are all different, we are all different. Our timescales are all different. So why are we continually comparing our success to others?

We set goals and work towards them, amend them when needed and continue until we get there. Often once we reach a goal we move onto the next one without much time for thought or consideration. Have we achieved success? Yes. Have we acknowledged it? Possibly.

This world pushes and pushes and pushes us to succeed, to do more, to be quicker, to be better, to not stop.

But do you know what? We need to stop. We need to stop with the speed, the need to be doing more, the non-stop need to move from one success to the next without taking a breath. We have to celebrate our successes and take a moment to acknowledge how well we have done.

What is your goal? Is it going to take you years to reach it or is it within the year? Have you split your goal into smaller ones? Is the end of the goal the success? Ie you want to be a teacher, you graduate and then you begin teaching, and you have reached success. Or is it to complete the course and getting the job is the icing on the cake? At what point is your celebration? And what is your celebration?

Do you throw a big party and celebrate with friends and family or do you buy yourself the car/dress/sofa/tv/holiday/book you have always dreamed about?

Success is different for everyone. Our goals vary and the way we celebrate will be too. Think about the goal you currently have and how you will feel once complete. What are you going to do to celebrate once you have the success you want? Perhaps reaching your goal is the celebration in itself or you want to go big and really give yourself a pat on the back.

If the success points are different, then why are we comparing ourselves with others. So what if someone ran a quicker time than you in a marathon or baked a better cake than you. Their goal might have been to beat their last time and your goal was to cross the finish line. Your cake might have been the best you have ever done, but in the competition the person who won had been baking cakes for 10 years longer than you.

There can be many reasons why you perceive them as being better but you will never know what someone’s aim or success is and what is going on in their head. Your success is yours so celebrate it. Let other people be and let them celebrate their successes.

With so many options there can be no comparison so take the pressure off and do your version and focus on doing what you need to be your version of successful. And then celebrate.

What is your current goal? What does completing it look like? How will you celebrate?

Here is an example to help:

Current goal: To learn Spanish using the Duolingo App.

What does success look like: Finishing the course and moving onto the daily refresh.

Time scale: complete a unit a week until finished, no specific end date likely take 2-3 years unless completing more than the unit per week.

Celebration: Go on holiday to Mexico and use the language learnt.

The success above could have been going to Mexico and speaking Spanish or to have a simple conversation with a native speaker. The time to complete could be a year or 6 months. The celebration could be to treat yourself to a book written in the language or to host a Mexican themed night and teach your friends Spanish.

Your version will be different from my version and we need to take the pressure off from having to celebrate at the same point as others or even celebrate in the same way.

As you go into your week, think about your goals and what success looks like to you. Get excited by achieving and celebrating the way you want. Only you will truly know if you are doing it right. It is personal so don’t try to be like someone else or feel you need to achieve or celebrate in a certain way.

Enjoy working towards your goals, have fun with your successes, acknowledge how well you have done and then celebrate!

Thank you for reading, have a great week and look after you.

Love Emma xx