I was talking to colleague the other night. We were discussing whether we needed to do anything more in order to make a joint proposal more successful. We’d tossed around a few thoughts – all of which related to what certain key stakeholders might think. Just as we were scraping the bottom of the stakeholder barrel, my wise peer asked one of those show-stopping sort of questions…
‘How do we want to define and measure our success on this project?’
Her question got us thinking in a completely different direction – more about what we wanted rather than the random expectations of others.
It was a fabulous reminder, don’t you think? Because whether we’re operating in a personal or professional context, we are actually always in charge of defining what success looks like for us.
Yep. It’s true. It is more than ok for us to make our own rules and set our own measures of success.
Too often in both professional and personal settings, women measure themselves against someone else’s (or society’s) version of success. Which sees them striving for all sorts of things that they never intentionally set out to achieve. But they feel like they should deliver. This never-ending striving leads to all sorts of unhelpful states, including procrastination and burnout.
I’m not sure who decided things like:
– people who dominate a discussion are more successful than those of us who have strong people skills;
– success equates to high numbers in bank accounts or low numbers on a set of scales;
– successful parenting is demonstrated via a child’s exams scores rather than their mental well-being.
But I am sure that I don’t agree with that human’s success measures. Why? Because deep down I know that those judgements – and thousands of others like them – aren’t true for me.
And that being true to me is the only real measure of success.
My advice for today. Be true to you. Set your own success measures. Define your own wins. Keep taking your baby steps. Be graceful with yourself. And let everything else – including the expectations of others – go.
Where in your life could you set your own success measures or expectations? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
And until next time – stay fabulous.
Warmest, Janelle x
PS. If you’d like some support defining your next goal and the definition of it’s success make sure you join me on Thursday, May 27th at 7.30pm AEST for my free Aiming High masterclass. We’ll explore your most important life focus areas, how you want to feel in those areas, and the actions required to get you started on one piece of your transformation journey. You can find more details right here. I’m so excited to be able to support you this way – I really hope you can join me on the 27th xx
