How Do You Define Success?

Have you sat down and really deeply understood what success means to you? If you haven’t, it might be the most valuable exercise you’ll ever perform.

Until you do, you might be living someone else’s definition of success, and that cannot bring you the joy and happiness you’ve been searching for.

Make a commitment to yourself today to integrate your life and business to a life by design.

What Does Success Mean to You?

I grew up in a very blue collar family with a very blue collar work ethic. My father, a 40-year union steel worker, taught me the value of hard work, grinding, getting dirty and saying yes when you’re on call, being always available, dragging yourself out of bed and dragging yourself to work, even when you’re sick and even when you don’t feel well.

My father taught me the value of going somewhere you don’t want to go, working for someone you don’t want to work for, waking up when you don’t want to wake up, doing things that you don’t want to do, and doing it because that was the right thing to do for you and your family.

My father taught me that sacrifice was part of life and success, and some of those traits served me as I rose and ascended the ladder of success. It built reliability, dependability and trustworthiness, but some of those traits didn’t serve me well. Doing things that I hated was success. Going someplace I didn’t want to go was success. Waking up when I didn’t want to wake up with success. Working for someone was success. Those traits never served me and, in fact, I don’t believe those traits serve anyone.

Years ago, after my corporate career collapsed, my wife Angie and I decided and agreed that we were going to build a lifestyle that allowed us to take our business on the road. We were going to build a life and a business that didn’t require escape from our home in St. Louis, but that we were going to be able to take that life and business on the road. We were going to live a nomadic, traveling lifestyle and get to really enjoy what life is about, without stress, struggle or sacrifice.

Today I’m in Dauphin Island, Alabama, on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. We arrived a couple days ago, and we’re here for a couple more. We are actually going to pick up and drive to New Orleans for a couple days next. It’s our favorite city that we’ve been to so far.

Do you know why we’re going to do that? Because we can.

I haven’t skipped a beat with my clients or with my business. I’ve met all my obligations – my requirements for my life and my business. I woke up this morning and I got a four-mile run in. I haven’t self-destructed. My eating habits are still on par and my health habits are still on par. I’m still honoring my sleeping schedule.

I don’t need to escape those routines and habits that serve me so well, whether I’m in St. Louis or Dauphin Island, Alabama. Right now we’re making more money in our business than I ever made in corporate America. I’m doing a whole lot less work with zero sacrifice, zero obligation, zero pain with zero stress and zero struggle.

Angie and I had a vision of what success was for us and we’ve created a successful lifestyle that’s free of struggle, stress and toil.

If I were to ask you what success looks like to you, do you know what success really means? No one can define it for you. My father tried to define what success meant to me and he couldn’t because I’m a completely unique and a different human being.

You get to decide for yourself. If you really haven’t dove into what success means for you, I think it’s time you do. You’ll find everything that you’ve been looking for there.