I’ve been struggling a little bit lately with the concept of professional success. Feedback on my post yesterday got me thinking about why people use the number of followers on Twitter or other social media sites as a measure of popularity. For many, popularity equals success. But if you opt not to use that measurement, then how do you measure your success – money, job satisfaction, happiness, achievement of goals?
In general, the common societal measurement of professional success is a typically a numbers game. We would likely all agree that financier Warren Buffet with his billions is successful, but some would say that the fame and notoriety of certain celebrity types like, Paris Hilton, make her a success. Though, few of us can pinpoint exactly what she is successful at - other than being famous.
This issue of measuring success is coming up for me as I continue to make the transition from spending more than 20 years as a journalist to working for myself. Journalism is a very public profession where people often give you automatic credence and pay attention you simply because you work at a media outlet that may include them in editorial coverage.
But now, I am doing consulting work and launching some projects that I have yet to disclose. Being more private means that significantly fewer people are exposed to what I am doing right now. And, admittedly that makes me feel like less of a success. I don’t have the public accolades I’ve been used to getting all of my professional life. I’m embarrassed to admit that I have often used that status to measure my own success. However, I’ve heard from many of friends, some of who were recently laid off from their jobs, that much of their ego and sense of self-worth was also tightly tied to their jobs.
In addition, one of my pet projects is not something that I am getting not paid for right now. The hope is that the project will be successful and ultimately the payoff will be big. But not getting a paycheck or tangible immediate financial reward for my some of my work often times makes me feel less successful.
Some days, if I’m feeling a bit down, I wonder if I am failing. It’s easy to point to the negative – the paychecks are not as big as when I had a full-time, working for the man job; I certainly don’t get the public acknowledgements that I used to receive working for a variety of a well-known publications; I’m in an odd, somewhat nebulous space (somewhere between marketer, consultant and media person); and I don’t have the volume of daily exposure to people banging down my door to speak with me.
Then other days I feel so blessed. I no longer answer to a boss; I work for myself; I set my own schedule; I choose only projects that I want to work on and feel genuinely excited about; and I am no longer creatively constrained by the conventions of a “real job.”
So, maybe success is more about attitude. I’ll pass on the role luck plays in becoming success. There are too many factors (luck, timing, attitude, hard work, etc.) that need to align in a perfect storm to create success. I’m much more interested in how people personally define their success.
Over the last five years of covering the online marketing space as a writer and reporter, I have interviewed many successful people and there was a common thread (in addition to very hard work) - they all LOVED their jobs. In most cases, many told me they could not imagine doing anything else. In fact, all of them noted that they didn’t consider their job work because they were doing what they truly loved.
Success is often a combination of achieving personal and professional goals – even if they are modest. Not everyone wants to be rich and/or famous. If your goal is to be the best dog walker ever, then money is not likely your yardstick. But perhaps, getting out and enjoying each day and knowing that you’ve given so much love your dogs is what fuels you. However, it seems to be true that if you do what you love, the money will follow.
Recently, a wise and successful friend/consultant suggested that I write down my goals as a constant reminder of what I want to achieve and what I have achieved. At first, I thought it was sort of cliché and hokey. As I began to create my list, some surprising goals came up that weren’t top of mind before. The exercise was definitely helpful. The list keeps me focused and most of all – positive.
For me, I’m starting to realize that like beauty, the measure of success should ultimately be in the eye of the beholder.
How do you measure your success?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
What is sounds like to me is that you’re making the hard transition from employee to entrepreneur! This is great news because that’s what I am, and I’ve done it, and I can tell you it’s much better than “working for the man”. But then again… would I love to just do 9-5 somedays.
For me, success is freedom. I’m about to go have lunch with my family for 2 hours and I don’t really care when I get back. Tomorrow I’m taking most of the day off to spend time with my kids on their break. I may not work at all.
Of course, I’ll be up to 3 in the morning trying to catch up, but you get my point.
Great post here, and I hope you write about this more as you make this transition. Fascinating and I believe inspiring content for millions of other people who I’m sure are hoping to do the same thing you are doing.
Before the Internet I did stuff I could not even talk to my wife about. Nobody outside maybe a few hundred people in the world knew anything about what I was doing. I still can’t talk about it, but I was still able to leverage the skills I learned there for other things.
Success is where you end up, not where you are now. So what if the world does not know what you are doing. By the time you are done, the right people will know, and that is all that counts.
How do I measure success?
Satisfaction.
I’m appreciative when I receive recognition for achievements. But I’m elated when I set out to accomplish a goal and I perform well. I usually set my own standards or metrics. Not always, though. I was raised with all brothers which required (or so I believed) a competitive streak that still surfaces in my life. And in competition there are external measures. We’re judged and compared. Success, in those cases, is more external.
Great blog, Lisa. I’m enjoying reading and looking forward to more.
I know what you mean. I don’t feel nearly as successful when I’m in the office working on long term projects, instead of out on trade show floors, at social networking events, and interacting face to face- the immediate success stops. It’s completely valid to have that need to feel recognized to feel accomplished. You also don’t always have to be at the top of your game- we all have off days.
I printed bunch of quotes and framed them on my walls in my home office. Some are inspirational, some are simple reminders, and some are meant to make me laugh. Maybe you can do that with the benefits you mentioned of working for yourself. Seems way too simple, but it can provide the quick mental boost you need to keep on trucking- and be even more successful in your new ventures.