Hey girl!
We all want to feel successful, right?? When we get down to it, we all want to feel as if we’ve “MADE” it in our career. Whether that’s a money goal, or going full-time in our own business. Or maybe it’s having the freedom to make our own schedules, go on xx number of vacations per year., etc.. Whatever it might be, we all want to be successful “one day”. But how many of us have really sat down and defined exactly WHAT success looks like for us? And if you have thought about it, when was the last time that you revisited it? Do the same things still holds true?!
For so many of us, whether we are working full-time for a company or we are running our own business, we spend a lot of time looking at OTHER PEOPLE and THEIR goals to define what success “should” look like for us.
We too often look at the “highlight reels”
We spend so much time looking at other people’s “highlight reels” that we forget there’s a human making mistakes DAILY behind those posts. Sometimes we also forget that just because one goal or lifestyle works for someone else, doesn’t mean it will bring joy or purpose to our OWN life! A lot of entrepreneurs I know, specifically photographers (since that’s who I spend a lot of time around), share similar thoughts:
– “I really wish I was booking as many clients as her”
– “If I had as many followers as her, I’d be more successful”
– “In order for me to be successful, I need to have the same kind of engagement from my followers as she does”
– “If only selling my products/services came as easy to me as it does for her – she makes selling seem so simple”
What does success really look like for us?
We so often spend so much time comparing ourselves to other people’s “success” that we start holding ourselves to this imperfect standard of meeting or beating them. I’ve done this in the past – I’ve compared how many photo sessions & weddings I’d book in a year compared to someone else — but then I’d completely forget about all of the other outside factors — is our pricing different? Are our priorities different around how much time we want to spend working on the weekends?
At the time, I wasn’t looking at all of the details, I was just telling myself that I needed to measure up. I spent SO MUCH TIME chasing money within my business. I thought that if I made a certain amount, it would mean that I was successful. And guess what? Each year I made more money, and it still wasn’t enough. I hadn’t decided how much money would actually make me happy — I just kept chasing an impossible money goal without even stopping to think if it even made sense for me and my business.
Are we chasing our dreams, or someone else’s?
How often have you found yourself chasing someone else’s goals & dreams? Or, how often have you looked at someone else’s highlight reel and decided that you won’t be “successful” unless you “measure up” to them?? We’ve all done this, so if your answer is ALL THE TIME, know that you are in good company!
Let’s start better defining what success looks like for US and us alone. Also, let’s put our blinders to what OTHER people are doing, and let’s figure out what goals / metrics / progress would make us feel fulfilled in our daily lives. A good friend of mine who is a photographer recently said to me, “I wish I could start booking X amount of clients per year, because THEN I’d know that I was successful.” What she didn’t see already is that she doesn’t need to search for that number to feel successful — everyone around her already SEES her success! She just hasn’t paused long enough to see it for herself. We get so caught up in this belief that success is always in the future — but it’ll always be something that we’re chasing if we don’t stop to see it happening in our life already.
We are already successful, right where we are
Let’s remember that someone out there is ALREADY looking at you and seeing your success. And let’s start viewing our progress through THEIR eyes, let’s stop chasing this never-ending feeling of success, and instead let’s start realizing that we have everything inside of us already to start feeling successful TODAY!
I am so dang proud of you for all of the hard work that you’re doing. I can’t wait to see where these steps are going to lead you! Click here to listen to the podcast and let’s dive even deeper on this topic!
XO,
Krista
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