The Best Way To a Successful Life

The tag line for my website is "The Best Way To a Successful Life".  This might sound a bit pompous. "Really? You know the best way to a successful life? "  What I really mean is that the best way to a successful life is to walk your own path. (see my previous blog).  But the word "successful" gave me pause. I feel that it is so loaded by our materialistic culture. I do not mean success in simple economic terms.  Just as we need to define our own paths, we need to define success for ourselves. True, heart nourishing success comes when our lives are in sync with our values. 

We define success differently at different life stages. When I was in school, success was at least partially defined by my grade point average. When I started working, it was about salary. Later in my career, success was about responsibility levels, what I was adding to my resume, how I was developing my skill set and capabilities. After our career ends, we may still look to be successful but it will be defined very differently. 

One of the benefits of coaching is to face the question "how do I define success, for myself"? Unless we grapple with this question we are living out that saying "when you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." When we define it in a way that has meaning for us, decision making becomes much easier. With each choice we can ask "Is this getting me closer to my idea of success, or taking me off track?"