The way we discuss success is backwards. Success is the measurement of one thing against another thing, and the world’s view of success would be money, driving a nice car, not having to work many hours etc. But the harsh reality about chasing those things is that you’ll always be chasing those things - there’ll never be enough that will satisfy.
You could achieve all those things, and still feel like you haven’t succeeded. The world’s measure of success is built on things where there’s always more to be had - money, relationship, fame.
But if you reframe your definition of success, and change your mindset to measure success by a different standard, success comes more willingly. Simply doing what you love for the sake of doing what you love might be a good measure of success.
Earlier last year I had a bit of a dry month and, rather than sitting around twiddling my thumbs, I went out and helped people. My friend was alone decorating his cafe so I put on some crappy clothes and painted with him for a couple of days. A few days later another couple of friends of mine were setting up a new bakery so I went and helped shopfit for them.
By the world’s standards it was an unsuccessful week. I didn’t make any money and I wasn’t any further along with my own career.
But if I choose to measure success by a different standard I can say that those days made me rich indeed, because I was trading in the currency of friendship.
