Success, what measurement do you use?

When you are twelve and thinking about what your life will be like when you are 29 there are many different words to describe that life…one of them is being successful. Everyone wants to be successful. What does that mean though….

You hear a parent say, “my son/daughter is a successful real estate broker, web designer, lawyer, doctor, engineer at xyz company and are in the market to buy a house”. Everyone always congratulates the parent on how great that is, how fast they grow up and how wonderful it is that they are moving on with their life. I dare to ask… who’s idea of success is that. National statistics show that 60% of people HATE what they do and wish that they were doing something else.

Now lets imagine this same conversation above…but the parent replies. “My son/daughter is a successful struggling artist living with some friends in an apartment in New York. “We hope he/she can save up enough money to visit us over the holidays”. No you don’t normally hear the word “successful” used in this type of conversation, instead you hear words like “we wish she/he had gone to graduate school”, or “he/she will give up their ideal life and soon join the real world”. How can we define someone elses’ level of success or happiness…we can’t.

Now 1 month before my 29th birthday or what Zeek likes to call our “Enlightenment Period” we are deciding what our success is and what it should look like. Here is some of what we have determined.
1. No Debt
2. Trilingual
3. Culturally diverse education for our children
4. Never “working” more than 40 hrs a week
5. Do what we love…and we will call it work
6. Minimalist mindset
7. Adventure together
8. Save money

These are our rules or definitions of success. They are not right for everyone. They are ours. Define your own rules of success and once you achieve them you will be satisfied. The idea of creating and living your own life, not living by boundaries set by others.

Share your own measurement of success here. Think outside of the box!