I’ve recently begun pondering what success looks like again. Is it selling a million copies of Reel Leadership? Is it reaching 10 million people with my message on leadership? Or is it something else?
Photo by rawpixel
These thoughts have been running through my mind. They’re drawing me back to new questions all the time.
They’ve gone from the questions I only asked at the opening of this article to new questions…
How many lives have I impacted? Would I be okay with truly impacting only one life? Where does my energy need to be focused to be most effective? What does effectiveness really look like?
I don’t know. I really don’t. But I think I need to be saved from my idea of success. You need to as well.
We place these false notions of what success looks like on our lives. On and on we chase this supposed notion of what success really looks like. Then we take on the ideas of others and place those people’s opinions of success on our lives.
We hoist false trophies in the air, like the people in the image above. We chase unfulfilling promises. We long to be recognized…
Our constant pursuit of success actually pulls us away from what success should be. We drift further away from the destination we should be heading towards. And we wind up in a place we never desired to be in the first place.
The success we discover isn’t fulfilling. It isn’t rewarding. It leaves us empty and feeling void.
As you pursue your career and your idea of success, be careful. You may not be pursuing the right things. You may be pursuing what others have told you to pursue or a warped version of success.
I’m beginning to reshape my view of success. It’s no longer about me. It cannot be about me.
Success is about something more. It’s bigger than my legacy or the number of people I reach. It’s more important than my ideas and thoughts.
While I’m not sure what success looks like, I know success isn’t what I’ve been pursuing. I’ve been pursuing the wrong things. And, if you’re anything like me, you’ve been chasing the wrong things too.
Today, take some time and think about success. What did success look like to you 5 to 10 years ago? What does success look like to you today? How have they changed? Have they diverged in a different path than you believed you were headed?
Let us get back to the heart of things. Let us search our hearts and minds and remember why we began to lead or write or share our lives with others.
Then and only then do I believe we will find the success we’ve all been longing for.
I don’t know about you but I need to be saved from success. Do you?
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