What is success? A question with a wide variety of answers, because the question is not a simple one. It should be an extended question:
When are you successful as a leader, in your work, in your life? When is your team or your alliance successful? Do you measure success by the numbers or by some intangibles, like the respect you earned? Is your personal success about wealth or wellbeing?
Success has a different meaning for different people and in different situations. Thus there is no single recipe for success. A better question might be “What is success for you?” Still, also this question is not an easy one for many. We often feel that we need to comply with outside norms of success. It is a question I often ask my clients.
Recently I spoke to an executive who made the deliberate choice to choose wellbeing over wealth. He traded his corporate career with a prosperous outlook for the option to run a small company. With that choice, he left a lot of money on the table. His choice was driven by the realization that his well-being in balance with his family, was more important to him than the wealth that the corporate career would bring. It is a fundamental choice that also redefines his definition of success.
If you take one inspiration out of this week’s newsletter, then rethink your definition of success for a moment: “what is success for you?” Look at your plan again and reconsider what habits you have in place to achieve the success you aspire!
“The only failure is not to try,
because your effort in itself is a success.”
This quote by Madonna Buder is in itself an interesting one. When we place this quote in the context of who she is, and what she does, the quote becomes even more interesting. Sister Madonna Buder, also known as the Iron Nun, has completed over 300 triathlons, including 45 Ironman triathlons. That by itself is already impressive; it becomes even more impressive when you realize that Sister Madonna is 92 years of age and only started with running at the age of 48.
You are never too old to aspire and strive for a new level of success!
PS: “The Grace to Race”* is the book in which Sister Madonna Buder documented her experience.