Defining Success / Success 101
Winston Churchill says, “success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
Whereas “success isn't about how much money you make. It's about the difference you make in people's lives” is Michelle Obama’s definition of success.
Often people mistake that success is confined to one definition alone. Usually, it is deemed in monetary value, status growth or family hood. But there exists no such thing. Success can mean multiple for various people. It depends on the phase you are in, what you are expecting and what outcome you’d like. There is no ONE definition of success. It differs from person to person.
Do you sometimes feel like society's definition of success leaves something to be desired? Have you experienced a success of some sort and wondered why it hasn't made you happy? Do you feel like you want to better understand what success means to you?
Well, an easy way to figure out what success is to you is to re-evaluate yourself, your needs, and your ideas and then ask yourself three questions:
What satisfies your core needs?
What do you value?
What types of accomplishments feel the most worthwhile to you?
These three core questions will aid you in self-reflection and help you better understand what your needs, wants and satisfactions are. Reflect on your past, evaluate your present and plan your future. Pinpoint what makes you feel the happiest and what drives you to be your better self. As an individual, usually, you’ll find your definition of success by doing so.
Now, what would you do if you were an entrepreneur though? How does that change your views and ideology on the concept of success? When you’re an entrepreneur does your feeling of happiness alone count as success?
Success, like confidence, can be a feeling. But, as an entrepreneur, it is crucial to collect data and evidence. That will act as your ‘success’ metric. Collecting data is crucial when you are in the field of business. It acts as an indicator that’ll help you have something to look to, to see whether your business is moving forward and growing. You build on your previous successes. That is how entrepreneurs learn and grow. Success for us is measured in terms of the number of clients, the number of sales, and/or the annual profit we get.
So, what kind of data can you as an entrepreneur be collecting to further determine your success metric? If you have a website, what’s the traffic on your website? If you’re active on social media, what’s your content’s engagement like? What are your KPIs looking like? If you’re a service provider, what’s your referral rate? What is your client satisfaction level? Are you soliciting feedback? Are you becoming more efficient in performing various tasks or projects? To gain your brand’s success data, the key thing to remember is it needs to be tracked, quantified and compared.
Another thing that is key to remember is to also celebrate your successes. Don’t skim on the celebrations, you and your team have worked hard and it is essential to acknowledge that you’re moving forward toward your goals every day.
As entrepreneurs, we constantly have to be on our toes, keep our business moving forward and every day bring it closer and closer to the goal we have envisioned in our minds and more. But oftentimes, we tend to forget and overlook the little successes we get along the way in our entrepreneurial journey. And all too often we get lost in reassessment and evaluation that sometimes, our small successes get pushed to the side.
But did you know? Celebrating your success can have a huge impact on your future successes. Today we are sharing three reasons why you should be celebrating your successes more often.
1. A success mindset
A large part of success is about your state of mind, so it’s all about having a success mindset. This success mindset requires cultivation. When you notice and celebrate your successes you then start to see yourself as someone who is successful and growing constantly upwards.
2. Motivation
Celebrating your success makes you more likely to avoid burnout in the long run and helps you be motivated with your goal in mind. This way you’re less likely to get stressed and would not feel the easy general need to give up / quit often.
3. Success dopamine
There’s a reason why it feels good when we celebrate success and it’s to do with the happy chemicals in our brains. When your mood is elated, dopamine is released into your brain when you anticipate achieving something or we achieve it. Celebrating success is one of the healthiest pursuits of getting you a dopamine rush.
Oprah Winfrey once said, ‘the more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.’ So, what are you waiting for? Go on, go ahead and have that cake that you deserve!
