What Success Is (& Isn't)

Success is not the measure of your ability.

Neither is failure.

In my work as an encore life coach, I look past success AND failure.

Here’s why.

We conflate success with our ability to make good decisions.

We confuse failure with our inability to make good decisions.

But here’s the thing.

I can make a really bad decision and get a good result (and often do).

I can also make a really good decision and get a bad result (and often do).

Decisions are NOT outcomes.

What to do?

Make better decisions.

How?

Here’s one consideration.

Better decisions align with who you really are (your values), what you’re really good at (your talents), and where you really belong (with people who share your values and need your talents).

In other words, better decisions are decisions made with intention and integrity.

And this next consideration is REALLY important.

Decisions involve risk.

And the thing about risk is, well, it’s risky.

Sure, a bad decision can result in a good outcome.

But if you don’t recognize that it was still a bad decision and you keep making more bad decisions like those, you will blow yourself up sooner or later.

Here’s one more tip, make smaller decisions.

Why?

Making better and smaller decisions mitigates risk and keeps you in the game, regardless of the outcome of each small decision.

Ultimately, the best decisions set you up to make the next best decision (and the next, and the next...).

This kind of decision-making approach is its own reward.

And isn’t that a reasonable measure of success?

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at Creative on Purpose

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