One of the most important things to do as a business owner, or as a person for that matter, is to define your definition of success. If you don’t have a definition of success, how will you know if you’re being successful? Without your own definition, you’ll end up following someone else’s path for success. You could live your whole life living someone else’s dream than your own. Also, without your own definition of success, how will you know if you actually are successful?
I think that so often we think of success as the numbers. We tend to think of it as meeting financial goals, weight loss goals, number of books read in a year goals. But is that really what success is? It could be, but it also might not be.
You see, you can’t live a successful life if you don’t know what success is for you. Defining it for yourself will help you measure your life and goals in tangible ways to ensure you’re living for the right reasons.
Know your Why
The first step is to discover your WHY. Knowing your why will help you connect your goals to your definition of success and ensure that you’re building YOUR dream, not someone else’s. So how do we do that?
One of the best ways to discover your why is to journal, brainstorm, or make a voice memo. Talk it out and ask yourself the following questions:
- Why do you do what you do?
- Think about this in all areas of your life
- Why do you do your job? What keeps you going?
- If one of your roles is caring for someone else, why do you do that? Think deeper than “because I have to” or “because if I don’t, no one else will.” There’s something deeper that’s driving you.
- Why do you do the chores around your house?
- What kind of person do you want to be?
- Think about yourself in 10 years. Who do you want to be? What will you feel like? What kind of things will you be doing?
- Where do you want to be when you’re 80?
- Who will be with you? What kind of things will you be doing? What will people say about your life and your influence?
What Fires You Up?
Next, take a look at your passions. What is it that gets your fire going? What are the things that you find yourself doing just out of sheer excitement or enjoyment? Or when work doesn’t feel like work at all? Brainstorm a list of all of your passions, your hobbies, and what it is that gets you the most excited.
Examine Your Life
Now that you know your why and how you want your life to look, and you’ve pinpointed some of what fires you up, next you’ll want to see how your life stacks up right now to those things.
- Is there anything you are doing that is getting in the way of your why?
- What’s preventing you from being the person you want to be right now?
- What will it take for you to get to where you want to be when you’re 80? What habits need to be dropped, need to be started, or need to be adjusted?
Notice Themes
Take a look back at everything you’ve written. Are there any themes along the way? If there are, write them down. These themes will help you write your definition of success.
Write your Definition of Success
Take everything you’ve learned so far and ask yourself, “At the end of my life, how will I know if I’ve been successful?” However you answer that question is your definition of success. And it’s what you’ll want to use as your guiding light for how you build your business and how you build your life.
Knowing your definition of success will keep you from falling into the comparison trap, because you’ll know that the next person’s definition may not be the same as yours, and you’ll know that everything you’re doing is centered around your own definition. It will also help you make sure you’re doing the right things to help you achieve your goals.
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