Defining Success for Yourself
Maya Angelou once said:
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it”
I caught this quote in the middle of making a Canva social media graphic. I honestly never remember these quotes, or even that Canva does put up quotes, but this one simply smacked me across the face.
I’ve been running over thoughts in my head lately, unable to put words to many of them, until this quote added it together. Success is what my brain has been trying to articulate; more specifically, how does one reach it?
I read and consume media talking about ancient kingdoms and I sarcastically lament to myself how I wish success was the same now as it was back then. “The glory days,” as it were, where your choice of career was largely decided by what your parents did. Most jobs were equal playing field: you put in work, you get food, your family doesn’t die of starvation. Boom — career made.
So what is success today? Mary Angelou put it well I think. If you do not love what you do, it’s hard to be happy. Following the thread through, if you are not happy, it is hard to like yourself. Pride has to be vital here, and I’m not talking about the bad pride, I’m talking about the pride you put in your work.
From my previous job serving in leadership at Chick-fil-A Lenexa as Associate Director of Operations to my current position as Project Manager at ERO Media Group, I continuously wear a lot of different hats depending on the day or what’s going on. My leadership, while it could certainly be categorized by style or personality, is entirely unique. Is my job something only I can do? Of course not, but I am proud and enjoy the way that I do things.
Some people ride the highs of self-esteem all the time, but if stats and surveys are telling us anything about mental health, anxiety is at a peak in the workforce, with self-esteem lying somewhere deep below. What is our response to that? Not just a ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps,’ but you must find what actually gets you out of bed in the morning.
What do you dream of doing? Find one step you can take to get toward that next destination. Only you can know what you want, but I would recommend trying to take a stab at defining what success looks like to you.
