So why do you want success? Why do you want to achieve your goals? What’s in it for you?
For many, success is about working hard so that you can get expensive toys… but then there’s really no time to enjoy the toys… because you need to work hard to get the expensive toys.
This is a sad reflection of our weary, hollow culture. Success measured by how busy you are… how many hours you work… how hard you labor… how few days off you take… how little time you spend in joy…
Success measured by the number of victims we leave on the battlefield of achievement, as collateral damage; by the sacrifices we make of our very selves.
Is this really what success is all about?
Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post, says that “Success as we’ve defined it is no longer sustainable. It’s not sustainable for human beings; it’s not sustainable for the planet.”
Success is not just money and power, Huffington suggests. There is, she says, a ‘third metric,’ of success; one comprised of “well-being, wisdom, wonder and giving back.”
One that honors spaciousness, mindfulness, reflection, relationship, and joy.
If we “succeed” at the expense of our families, our friends, our emotional health, our physical health, our spiritual health, and our environment, what have we succeeded at?
Success, at its core, is the highest and best expression of ourselves in the world. It is reflected in the way in which we share our unique gifts; the lives we touch, the hearts we heal, the impact we make, and the legacy we leave behind.
It is living fully and loving deeply. With purpose and passion. It is measured not by what we hold back, not by what we accumulate, but by what we give.
It is showing up every day with a servant’s heart. Playing full out. Holding nothing back. Leaving it all on the field.
It is about reveling in the joy of Creation and an abundant Universe.
Success by any other definition is just not worth it.
