Define Success on Your Terms

If you allow your success on an annual basis to be defined by other people, you will drive yourself batty in good times and bad times.

As a business manager, I imagine you get asked regularly, "How are you doing?" Invariably, the other person means, "How are your numbers? How is your salary?" If you define yourself only by your economic performance and salary, you are destined to fail often. This happens for two reasons:

First, economic growth is not always linear. Second, your financial numbers are only a fraction of your whole life.

However, if you fall into the trap of letting other people define your success then you will ignore the other 85% of your life beyond your financials and you will never be fully satsified with any financial performance.

Define Your Success For the Next Year

Here are 12 questions to consider as you determine your success over the next 12 months:

1. What do you want your financial numbers to look like at the end of the next 12 months in terms of business revenues, profits, personal income, and personal savings?
2. What do you want your physical fitness to be 12 months from now in terms of weight and conditioning?
3. What personal behaviors do you want to improve over the next 12 months?
4. What do you want your relationships with your family members and friends to be like over the next 12 months?
5. What type of contribution do you want to make in your community over the next 12 months?
6. In what ways do you want to develop your mind over the next 12 months?
7. What skills do you want to enhance over the next 12 months?
8. What new professional relationships do you want to build over the next 12 months?
9. What vacations do you want to experience over the next 12 months?
10. What hobbies do you want to develop over the next 12 months?
11. How do you want your customers to be better off over the next 12 months?
12. How do you want your families to be better off over the next 12 months?

You can add or subtract questions as you choose. My point is I'm encouraging you to put down in writing what success looks like on your terms, not someone else's. Other people's perspective of you is usually far narrower than it should be. It's your responsibility to define and pursue success in a way that represents your whole life.