How do you define success?
When you focus on success as a metric that only includes power and money, you might find yourself at the top and yet completely dissatisfied with your life.
For women to become truly successful we will have to define success to include things that have been missing from that narrow view of achievement. I love Adrianna Huffington’s book, Thrive, because she explores the idea of adding thriving to money and power as the metrics of success. Her definition of thriving adds four new areas to the concept of success:
- Well-being
- Wisdom
- Wonder
- Giving
These are so important to most of the women I coach, and the ones who are creating goals that encompass thriving seem to be manifesting success at a fast rate than those still stuck in the old paradigm. Even though this paradigm may have been established by our masculine-led culture, even men are waking up to this need to expand their view of success.
In an interview with fellow Harvard alumna and former CEO and Chair of Time, Inc. , Ann Moore told Forbes Magazine that after retiring from Time, Inc. she became an entrepreneur by following what she loved.
“If I am clear about the goals, I cannot fail. It has been a good year and we have exceeded expectations. After all, I am really happy and isn’t that the point?!”
Create your goals to meet your ideal of success by frequently asking yourself these three questions, and you cannot go wrong:
- Am I able to invest the majority of my time doing what I love?
- Do I feel good about myself, because of the work I contribute to the world?
- Is passion and enthusiasm part of my daily experience?