Are you seeking someone else’s idea of success?
Are you letting others define success for you? Do you see what other’s are achieving and make that your benchmark? Or, are you choosing your own definition of success… the only one that really matters.
Listen to this new 6-minute episode for a little perspective on this topic.
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– Are you seeking someone else’s idea of success? Listen to this episode and find out what I’m talking about. Hi, it’s Alan Berg. And welcome to another episode of the “Wedding Business Solutions” podcast. I’m doing this episode after some conversations I’ve had with some people about success. What is success? How do you define success? I know I’ve spoken about that before on the podcast, but it’s really important that when we decide whether or not we’re successful, we decide based upon our own guidelines and not somebody else’s. Now, what I mean by that is, you might look at someone else who makes a certain amount of money, drives a certain car, lives in a certain house and say, “Hey, they’re successful. I want that success.” But do you? Is that going to satisfy you? If you achieve that, are you going to feel satisfied?
How many times have you gone for something, and then you go after it, and you work hard, and you get it, and then you’re like, “Oh, that’s what this is?” Yeah, because that car might have a higher car payment, and that house might have a higher mortgage cost, or taxes or stuff like that. So be careful what you ask for because you might get it. When it comes down to defining your own success, you have to decide what does success mean? And then if I look at someone else and say, “Hey, I think they’re successful,” well, they might think so, they might not think so. But again, that’s their definition, not yours. So what I want you to think about is, when you say that “I’m successful”, when you say those words, “I have achieved a certain level of success”, and it doesn’t have to be overall success. It could be success at a certain skill. It could be a certain business success or whatever.
What does that mean? Is an arbitrary number? I want to gross X dollars, $100,000, $200,000, $500,000, $1 million or whatever. What does that mean? I have a friend of mine whose business reached a million dollars in gross sales. And he was able to join this club with other speaking businesses that had a million dollars in sales. And he said, “I was actually netting more money, keeping more money when we were grossing a half a million dollars than I am at a million.” So that elusive goal to reach that million be able to become part of this club, was that really success if he was actually bringing home less money than he was when he was grossing half of that?
So, what is your definition of success? And is somebody else imparting that upon you? Or are you allowing that to be? Or are you allowing yourself to say, “This is what success means to me”? When they look at people in third world countries and success means feeding their family for the day, it feels kind of small for us to say that, “I want a bigger car or a bigger house.” But if they don’t know any different, if they know that they’re happy because they’re able to provide for their family, they’re farming, they’re doing whatever, and they’re happy, that success is good for them. It’s the same for you. I’ve said this before, unless you are Bill Gates, or Jeff Bezos, or Warren Buffet, or something like that, there’s always somebody who’s going to have more money. There always is. Elon Musk is going to have more money than one of those guys. But does that make you successful? Does that make you happy?
Success for you has to be what brings you joy where you’re able to sit back and say, “I feel successful because I have achieved X, and I’m good with that, I’m happy with that, I feel comfortable with that regardless of what anybody else says.” If you’re trying to achieve someone else’s ideal, when you get there, it’s going to feel shallow. If you chase your own ideals and say, “This is enough for me. This is good enough for me.” I personally have one house. I don’t have a second house. I don’t have a third house or a fourth house. And it’s not a matter of affordability. I don’t need more. I don’t want more. I feel successful because of what I’m able to provide for other people. And when people tell me I’ve helped you, that to me is success. When I’ve chased the money, and I’ve achieved the money, it’s felt hollow because what is it? I mean, these days, money is just a number on a screen. It’s not a pile of cash. It’s a number on a screen.
So, for me, success is being able to help more people, personally and professionally help more people. That’s what success means to me. It doesn’t have to mean that to you. It doesn’t. Please don’t chase my definition of success, but find your own, define your own. And then when you feel successful, sit back, feel happy. Don’t worry about what other people are doing and say, “I feel successful because I’ve achieved my definition for me, for my family. This is what it means to me.” So I hope that gives you something to think about. Thanks.
I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is [email protected]. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:
- Apple Podcast:
- YouTube: www.WeddingBusinessSolutionsPodcast.tv
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sGsuB8
- Stitcher:
- Google Podcast:
- iHeart Radio: https://ihr.fm/31C9Mic
- Pandora:
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