Volume 13, Issue 17: Define Your Success This Season

How do you define success in this season of your life? I have found that as seasons of life change and we encounter unfamiliar territories, we run into the risk of feeling we are failing. If for instance your definition of success is tied to your job, how do you define success when you are in between jobs, or when you retire? If your definition of success is tied to being a caregiver, how do you define success when you become an empty nester?

Each of us has an overall definition of success. But life comes with seasons, and in each season, we have different things playing out in our lives. We need to develop a list of how we define success in each season of life. Whether there's one marker of success or several, you should be able to look at your list and know immediately if you are doing the things that matter in the season you are in.

Most of the past year was a very demanding season for me professionally. My definition of success in that season was ensuring a successful project and office closeout. It was profoundly important to me that I finish well, and that I help my office and the projects that I supported wrap up well.

Shortly after that, I went into another season where I lived and worked abroad. That was a unique season in my life in every sense. In that season, my definition of success was maintaining the wellbeing of my family back home through daily connections. My other definition of success at that time was putting my best foot forward at the office and showing up well for the people I worked with. Success to me also meant maintaining my daily habits in the absence of accountability structures.

And now back home from abroad, my definition of success in this initial period of being back home has been remaining vigilant in my professional life in the transition phase that I am in, and being present with my family and efficient in homemaking. I know I am doing well, but I felt the need to develop success markers to help me stay aligned to showing up well.

Last evening as I was reflecting on this, I asked myself this question. "What is the one thing that if I did would make me feel successful this season?" My answer was "Leaving my bedroom by 7.00am every morning and returning to my bedroom by 7.00pm every evening would make me feel successful."

I am sticker for keeping time. The second phase of the morning routines starts at 7am but lately, I have been running late, sometimes by close to an hour. I have also been stretching my 8pm bedtime by equal measure. As such, I have been feeling that I am not operating at my optimal levels. I feel rushed and undone. I feel that I am not doing all the things I should be doing.

Reading a post from the famous coach Valorie Burton yesterday, I have learnt that if we don't define success for ourselves, we'll unintentionally embrace a vague definition of success that we never quite live up to. So be sure to define what success looks like to you in the season you are in currently.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi