How Do You Measure Success?

How do you measure success? For me, success has always been about effort.

And effort? Effort is about working hard.

And “hard”? Hard means long hours, stress, survival.

Sometimes working hard resulted in big results, and other times not. But in both cases, it included eating poorly, low energy, headaches, and overwhelm.

I was working on my new business development. One week, I added a client, attended a marketing bootcamp, established banking, worked in the garden, went for walks, and cooked nutritious (and tasty!) meals, including foods from that very same garden. And it was easy.

And then the thoughts started – I should be working harder. Where was the stress? Why was I enjoying life? How could I have time? Wasn’t I serious about this new venture?

Then I got honest with myself. I realized that I could have produced fewer results feeling stressed and overwhelmed, and I wouldn’t have questioned my dedication. That would have been working “hard”.

Words are powerful. We infuse them with our own stories and those become our reality. “Success”, “hard”, “effort”. There are no universal truths to these words.

If they are simply my stories, I could be successful with a whole new set of words – “ease”, “joy”, “fun”.

I’m out to discover life inside of that story. How about you?