Redefining Success: Crafting a Fulfilling Career and Life on Your Own Terms

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Chelsey Hart, One of Thousands of Entrepreneurship Coaches on Noomii.

What if we changed the definition?

What if having a successful career meant:
- waking up each day excited to go into work
- working with people who valued and appreciated who you are
- knowing that the work you did created a sense of purpose within your life and others
- not having to sacrifice your emotional, mental or physical wellbeing to earn an income
- having opportunities to learn new skills and create connection
- striving to preserve the environment and create a better world
- creating work environments that are healthy, positive and productive
- creating a business that fits around your life instead of the other way around
- celebrate differences and the value that those differences bring to the work
- valuing rest and play

It’s the little moments each day that I realize creating my own definition of “success” has changed my life for the better. I’m not saying that it doesn’t come with struggle or that every day is filled with rainbows. But by changing the definition, I’ve been able to create a life that brings me long term happiness rather than what I’m “supposed to want”.

It’s a radical narrative to believe that I have a “successful” career/life while sitting on my back porch that desperately needs to be replaced. Those two things can exist at the same time. I can both want to replace my porch and consider myself successful. Success doesn’t have to look like a new car or a dream vacation. What if it looked like an afternoon off playing with my kids or being able to sell products that don’t damage the environment or paying my staff what they are worth or going to sleep knowing that the work I did has impacted someone’s life for the better? Just imagine what the world would look like if we changed the definition…