So here I am, with a new sense of what success looks like. Taking a look at my situation and where I am at in life gave me a pretty good idea of how successful I was. If you recall in my last post (HERE) I quoted the definition of success as "The difference between your current reality and your potential.
First off, lets dive into the first part of that quote, specifically "current reality". When you take a look at your current reality, you need to be honest with yourself. What is working for you? What is not working for you?
When I turned 30 this last year I took at look at my current reality. A very harsh and truthful reality. It actually hit me while showering. I had been unhappy in my job for awhile, I didn't feel like I was gaining traction in programming at a rate that would allow me to quite my job before I went crazy with negative thoughts.
I was 30 and not anywhere close to where I wanted to be in my life. By my friends and family's definition I was a success, and over achiever even. With two Bachelors degrees, my own house, a well paying job...life should be good no?
Grant Cardone talks about finding your purpose, what drives you. You see, when you work towards achieving another person's vision of success you automatically are failing yourself. For 30 years I had worked towards someone else's definition of success, and for 30 years I had drug my feet along, going through the motions to get there. At the end of the tunnel there was a pale light, over the years it got dimmer and dimmer. This pale light showed images of myself being rich, a big house, lots of land, and all the other material things a younger person could want.
See, when I started getting closer to this goal via the route that I had been told my entire life, it felt like the light got dimmer at the end of the tunnel. The vision began to fade. I lusted hard after those things for so long, and so often, I forgot what I was really about. I forgot why I wanted those things. It wasn't greed. It wasn't about the status of being rich. It was none of those things.
It took me 30 years to finally find my purpose, or rather the thing that drives me. Yes I still want all of those material things, but a switch got flipped for me, mentally. For so long I attached success with money. Money has nothing to do with success for me. I want freedom. I want to be able to do as I please. If I choose to work for a large corporation, it should be my choice. Although I could step away at any time, because we all have choices, I still have responsibilities. This is where my current reality lands. I am stuck with my job. I am stuck with my responsibilities. I have to slog through work when I don't feel like it, because if I don't the consequences far out weight the benefits of just quitting on the spot.
I have always felt I was better than whatever I was doing. I never thought of it in an arrogant way, its just....whatever I was doing was lack luster. Take my corporate job for example. I am damn good at what I do, and it benefits the company. However, I have always felt that I could make a much larger impact on the people I work around, and the company I work for, if I were in a higher position. That is my current reality.
I will tackle potential in my next post.
I want you to think about your current reality. Just assess, do not frown or fain on where you are currently at, just assess. Think about what your current reality is, have an honest conversation with yourself.
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