We are going through a major transformation at work. Around me I see colleagues being appointed to new challenging jobs, while others are – temporarily – making small compromises on their career status and prefer to secure a position in the new structure. To be honest, I am not sure to which of the groups I belong: time will tell, I guess.
This wave of changes has been leading me to think about the nature of success. By chance I found myself reading a quite fitting book by Huffington, “Thrive”. In this book she is suggesting that there is more defining personal success than the financial aspect of it: the personal well-being (linked to “giving” and “mindfulness”) is the real element defining how successful each of us shall be. Somewhat this definition was not satisfactory to me, as it felt too easy for a millionaire. This said, all the elements she mentions are absolutely necessary to ensure we keep a balanced life.
Immediately I had to think of people I know who have been hit hard by the current crisis – would “success” mean to them having job and pay the bills at the end of each and every month? And for the poorest of the poorest, would success mean being able to feel the family every day? Would that make them feel they reached their “well being”, to sleep well at night?
Is something like surviving cancer a greater success than all those?
What is the difference between success and personal satisfaction? Honest answer: I do not know. I realized I am not even sure why reaching “success” is supposed to be important. What I realized that matters to me is to feel accomplished.
I guess for me that translates into looking back at the end of a day and see I did all I could possibly achieve, using the day at its best. This is what makes me feel accomplished, as I am an “action and results oriented” person.
At the same time, at the moment I am actively training to be more “mindful” when I am when I am with my children: I realized I let work dominate my thoughts lately (no wonder) and even when I am not at my laptop I am still there with my thoughts. Seeing the school year rolling to the end makes me realize that they are growing up quickly and I want to be there (as a whole) for them, at least the short time we have every day. The joys of being a working mum…
So, all those fairly confused thoughts brought me to those (very personal) conclusions around success
- Success as such has a little of an empty meaning for me.
- Personally I think it is key to feel accomplished, which means doing what I do at MY best.
- The meaning of success is different to anyone, however realizing what that means is a major achievement and a great milestone in personal development.
Now the question: what is success for you?
For more on this topic:
TED, Alain de Botton
