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Success

Have you ever considered success?

In an article in our recent graduate newsletter recently we discussed the concept of success. We discussed whether perhaps success is about self-determined success.

I would love to discuss this in a little more depth.

What does success look like?

When we discuss success and how it happens we talk about what it looks like. This discussion is either pretty straightforward or rather challenging depending on the individual and their understanding of purpose. Success is not unlike your "why" but I think it has a harder edge.

What does self-determining success look like?

You determine what success is.

Get rid of any others who may tell you what success is.

Ask what does success look like to me? My day, my month, my workplace?

However, firstly, it requires you determining what is success.

I think it looks like hands on hips, direct gaze, strong voice and simple statement.

For me, it is not about that really big picture. The picture of “I want to make sure everyone in my orbit locates and steps into their leadership space”, which by the way I am still focused on.

It is more a smaller puzzle piece of the bigger picture. Like hands on hips, clear gaze, thoughtful voice.

Something like "in this part of the project, everyone will have a sense of their own leadership power and will have experienced that leadership is always about teams".

Starting self-determined success

My observations are that when people self-determine what they want then the path of getting there and making it happen becomes clearer.

What are the simple thinking processes that might help you get to the harder edge self-determined success?

To start the self-determined success with these questions:

1. Face-up to your success

What does success look like to me?

2. The End

What do I want at the end of this? Satisfaction? Recognition?

3. Shoulds or Musts

What personal behaviours have got in the way in previous attempts to be successful? How will I adjust these behaviours?

4. Agree-ers

Are you seeking approval from others about measuring your success? Examine this need and work on the unhelpful need for that approval.

5. Find a celebration buddy

Is someone else going to assist you in being accountable? Think about who can support and celebrate your success with you.

6. Move today

What actions do you need to put in place today to move you today? Tomorrow? Next month? Write them down and speak them out.

Richard St John has a quick Ted-X talk that has some interesting tips about success.

He talks about how he got there and also what happened when he got to his goal. It is short and interesting. I am not completely convinced about all of his messages but his self-knowledge about how his thinking and attitude change when he reached his goal is valuable.

What is success and how do we find it?

It would appear, no matter where you look, success is about ticking off on an aim or accomplishing your purpose. It would appear simple and if the graduates from this year's national programs were authoring this article they would “yeah-nah” nothing simple about it.

Riachard Branson says

“Too many people measure how successful they are by how much money they make or the people that they associate with,”

He also wrote on LinkedIn.

“In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are.”

I often feel a little jaded when I hear hyper-rich people say these things but actually, I think he is right.

Acclaimed author Maya Angelou believed success is about enjoying your work. Her take on success is:

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

What does all of that mean?

Perhaps Success is about self-determined success.

When I have observed our participants over the years the greatest level of achievement I see is when we do the skills sessions and guide. But, we keep our hands out of the goal-setting components and we let individuals and/or teams determine what they want to achieve. In fact when our facilitators have started influencing and steering direction the team moves away and the outcomes are less.

So the key is to determine what you want…is it not?

Perhaps we each need to listen, feel vulnerable and modify. But the energy is highest when we say

“that is what I want to achieve”.

Michelle Obama says that she has observed that

“Success isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.”

Now I know that some of you reading this have self-proclaimed cash registers for hearts. BUT I also know that those same people care deeply about the people around them and the difference that they are making for the greater good.

Success is not a simple concept.

We can see that success is not a simple concept. And it is definitely not when you combine it, as Affectus does, with our ethos of leadership.

Then what should we make of this and what might success look like?

Perhaps success and attaining it is about understanding your responses to a series of questions that only you can answer?

Or if it is group success; questions that the group has to agree on a combined answer?

If it is about self-determined ideas then we would suggest that these questions might assist you if you are seeking success.

• It is about money?
• It is about status?
• Are you seeking fulfillment? Happiness?
• What are you wanting to achieve? And is it only you who wasn’t to achieve the goal?
• Will it make a difference? And does this matter?
• How will I know when I have achieved success?
• And actually, is success important?

All things that push us along require thinking and rarely require telling. We have learned, over our three decades of working with people, to provide the skills and the knowledge but to go really easy on the telling and direction.

Success is most rewarding when telling is kept quiet.