Envision Your Version of Success

If you can connect the dots between who you are, what you believe, and what you do, you will experience your life as meaningful.

This is the third in a four-part series on Success. In the last two weeks we've talked about how you can work out who you want to be, and what you value. This week we get to the best bit - writing down, envisioning, or imagining what your version of success looks like.

In 2018 I moved to London for a role at Google to sell a new product to Luxury Retailers in the UK and Europe. As I waited for a flight to Dublin for onboarding training, I found out that the product I'd been hired to sell was going to be sunset.

In the months that followed, the team I was part of went through a re-organisation process that I found very destabilising. My intention in the role was to hit my metrics and chase a promotion. I wanted to be a rockstar, but no one could tell me what I had to do to be considered one.

I had little to no influence over the structure that would eventuate from the re-org process, or how long it would take.

Gravity problems

In my career crisis I had the good fortune of being introduced to Kate Mason, author of the just released Powerfully Likeable. After listening patiently, she asked me: Was I willing to accept that I couldn't change how Google operated or was I willing to leave and try something else?

Are you working on a gravity problem? Something you can't change. Is it a circumstance you need to accept or is it a problem you're willing to take on?

Kate went on to recommend I read Designing your Life by Bill Burnett and David Evans, the founders of the Life Design Lab at Stanford.

I still have my notes from one of the exercises in the book. On the train back to London from Manchester, when I was feeling particularly lost, I scribbled down my Vision of Success. This is what I wrote:

Success is freedom to choose.

What am I doing today?

Where do I want to spend tomorrow?

What am I building with my time?

I value people and experiences. I prioritise relationships, creativity and moments of joy.

A good job means you never have to worry about money.

A good career means you're constantly learning and leaving people and businesses you interact with better than how you found them.

A good life is made by noticing the joyful moments in every day.

That's your challenge for this week. If words aren't your thing, create a vision board or generate a picture of what success looks like for you with the help of AI.

The more specific you are on what success looks like, feels like, and means for you the better. Like me, you might stumble across that definition a few years on and be surprised by just how well your current experience lines up with your vision.

I'll leave you with two of my favourite quotes from Bill Burnett's TED Talk on designing the life you want:

"You're not late for anything, start where you are."

"There are many, many versions of you that you could play out, and any of those would result in a well-designed life."

If you're finding this series helpful, or have questions you'd love answered please comment or send me a message.