This was the key point of reflection for an Entrepreneur coaching client of mine this morning. Our conversation and its relevance to many of us got me thinking and now typing and sharing a guide on how to work out what success is for you.
You see my client is no doubt successful, by any measure of the word:
Built a great product
Assembled a brilliant team
Had a good exit
And yet is still asking the question - what does success mean to me.
What I know for certain is that truly understanding success for yourself is an inside/out job.
To really feel it, to know it instinctively and for it to be true to you - it'll come from within you.
Not as an external definition - and that, of course, trips us all up from time to time because external validation carries weight.
So how does one find this answer on the 'inside' then?
A great place to start if you're reflecting on this question too is to investigate and spend time with your own personalvalues
Your values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work. They are what motivate and drive you.
They determine your priorities, and, deep down, they're probably the measures you use to tell if your life is turning out the way you want it to, which we could define as success.
Understanding my own values as a Father, Husband and Small Business owner have been (and this isn't an overstatement) transformative.
Last year I really needed to have this understanding of myself as 'success' was questioned frequently. I took 4 months off to be the new Dad I wanted to be (and the man my wife and eldest boy needed) and as a result my business slowed down, right down. It was all my choice, yet I still struggled with this - "I must be this, I should have that etc."
My values kept me honest, here's how - thru the lens of 2 of my 5 core values:
✈ Freedom - how do you find that as a new Dad? Well I made the choices that served me and my family and there is no greater Freedom than that.
👊 Having an Impact - fewer clients means less impact? Perhaps, so I found other ways to create that impact that matters to me - podcasts, men's circles, pro bono work and being totally present with the clients I did work with.
When I took the time to reflect on success, I could see it and feel it all around me. I felt good because this was my definition of it.
Personal Values are powerful. I always work with my 121 coaching clients on theirs and often bring them into Mojo workshops with teams (knowing your own values + those of your key clients is a powerful way to achieve mutual success).
Not enough of us know or understand our Values (5% in the UK is a very rough estimate)
I'm sharing my Mojo values guide so you can go an explore yours too. Check the link in the comments for a 15 min audio guide. It's both an enjoyable and important exercise to do.
Hope you love it and let me know what you learn about what success now means to you.
Richard 🦋