DoWhat!?
Support & Inspiration for Taking the Road Less
Traveled
Reading Time: 3 Minutes
In this issue:
- Not Another Article About Success!
- When Opportunity Knocks...7 Unconventional Ways to Prepare for
a Chance of a Lifetime
- Bonus: 20% Discount on New Teleclass
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What is your definition of success? The question is so
cliched that it almost always evokes pat answers. Our society is
build on freedom, human rights, capitalism, ambition, and the
American Dream, so we know the “correct” answers include doing good
– whatever that is – and making money – however that’s done. But who
says?
A number of people I know, both clients and friends, are
considering this question for themselves right now, and more than a
few have realized that to answer the question they must get away
from the word “success.” It has lost its power to motivate them.
Success as a concept is something we all give lip service to, but
when it comes to defining it for ourselves, do we really know what
it means?
This month’s topic is success, however you label
it!
Warmly,
Laura
Not Another Article About Success!
Articles and books that promise a formula for success drive
me crazy! Personal success is the intersection of an individual’s
life values, passions, and material goals. Just as no two human's
life experiences are exactly identical, no two definitions of
success can truly be the same.
Yet the word success is constantly bantered in our
society and we discuss it like we know what it means. Someone says,
“He is so successful!” and you might agree as long as he has money
and power or extraordinary altruism that match society’s standards
for the word. But what do you know of his real success – that of his
own standards? How successful does that man feel if he has destroyed
his marriage, lost time with his child, put aside a artistic
passion, or felt extreme loneliness on his way to
achievement.
Recently, when I asked clients their definition of success
several told me that they needed to ditch the word itself. What a
step in the right direction! For one the new word was “achievement,”
for another the phrase “being real” summed it up. In one case, my
ambitious, and (by conventional standards) very successful friend
used one definition for success as society would define it and then,
admitting the description left her cold, blurted a second definition
for “meaningful existence” which she finds much more
motivating.
While, in my mind, it isn’t possible to give someone a
formula for becoming successful, one powerful step toward defining
and processing success in your own unique way is to shed that
useless word!
Here are three ways to start defining success in your own
terms:
1)
Feel It. How do you feel when you achieve personal success? Identify
at least 7 times in your life when you were very proud of your
achievement or felt extremely fulfilled. Write down every remembered
detail: the situation, who you were with, what you wore, and the
smells and sounds of your surroundings. Relive the experience in
your mind. What does your satisfaction feel like? Are there common
threads in what you experienced and how you felt?
How do you feel when you’ve achieved something meaningful?
Let those feelings guide your future activities.
2)
Boil it Down. Steve, a dear friend of mine, fondly recalls a sign hanging
in a Vermont country store. It says, “Sleep, Eat, Ski, Hike, Fish”
and embodies to him a fun and fulfilling existence. Day to day, he
works his 9-5 job in Washington, DC but still retains the five word
mantra to remind him of his true passions and goals. For him,
successful living is embodied in that sign: in those 5 words and the
context of Vermont country life.
Can you boil your idea of success and fulfillment into five
words? What metaphor or symbol embodies your ideal life?
3)
Expand the Context. Sometimes defining success is overwhelming because it seems
to require you to nail down ideas of lifetime achievement. While
that is part of it, applying a single idea of success to all the
situations and times in life is far too limiting. The terms of
success must change as the context changes, and you are likely to
have many different definitions. Keep your overarching goals in
sight but also focus on day-to- day events to weave your personal
view of success into the process of life.
How do you think about fulfillment in the different contexts
of your life? What makes this one moment meaningful? What is
achievement for you in this one hour, one month, one job or one
relationship?
New Article & Teleclass:
Opportunity Knocks...7 Unconventional Ways to Prepare for
Your Chance of a Lifetime
Laura’s recent article, Opportunity Knocks: 7
Unconventional Ways to Prepare for Your Chance of a Lifetime
was well received by Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship readers and
has spawned a new teleclass!
Opportunity Knocks teleclass starts April 6th
Here are the details:
If your life dreams include being an entrepreneur, don’t miss
this 5 session teleclass covering the essential first step: finding
YOUR perfect opportunity.
- Thursdays at 3pm EST
- April 6, 13, 20, 27 & May 4, 2006
- Five 90 minute group teleclasses
- PLUS: 1 hour personal coaching session for each participant
- Limited to 6 participants
Steel your courage and get ready to dive in. Laura Koehne,
professional coach, will lead you through the process of exploring
what truly makes you zing. Prime your pump for entrepreneurial
success and to have fun doing what you love!
Click
here to read the syllabus and get more detail.
DoWhat!? readers receive a 20% discount on
class registration.
Free introductory calls to answer your questions about
this class will be held on: Thursday, March 30th at 8pm EST or
Tuesday, April 3rd at 3pm EST
Join an introductory call: 641-297-7250 #164619
