What does success look like to you?

When I ask this question of my clients, it is generally not an amount of money or the material side of life that we finish up talking about.

It is the things they want to experience. 

---

They talk about being fit and healthy and having a clear state of mind. They talk about living in a warm and secure environment.  They talk about having their family and friends around them.  They talk about the passions they have pursued - building a business, growing as a person, supporting and educating their children, helping out in the local community, mentoring or travelling the world. They talk about the difference they may have made in other people’s lives.

Yes, managing the money side of things is critically important as it funds your ideal life, but it is rarely the end in itself.  

PRO-TIP Truly valuable financial advice aligns your financial choices with the things that are most important to you.

There has been an enormous amount of research carried out to find out what makes us feel successful.  Perhaps the best known of this work was by Abraham Maslow.  His research was  summarised in what he called the “hierarchy of needs”, a theory of psychological health about fulfilling human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualisation.

This research shows that success looks different for every single person. There are no convenient common goals, although there are building blocks available. Here are ten headings you can use to define what success will look like for you.

PRO-TIP The 10 ways we’ve discovered that people define their personal success

1. Money – It’s where most people start, but in reality, as long as you have enough money, more won’t make you any happier.
2. Relationship – Arguably the most important aspect of success. You might love a partner, your children or pets.  A highlight of your year could be the annual catch up with old friends.  Life can seem pretty empty without it.
3. Health – Health beats wealth.  Freedom from pain or illness is important. If you have poor health, you might define success differently. Many people in the final stages of terminal illness set and achieve goals.
4. Comfort – The human body works best when it’s warm, fed, and rested. Creating a nest where you feel safe is vital.
5. Learning – School and college teach you how to learn, but you should never stop when you leave. Learning is a great way to excite your imagination, stimulate enthusiasm, and develop new interests.
6. Fun – Some are brought up to see life as a duty and not to be enjoyed. Planning time for fun is as important as anything else.
7. Giving – Bizarrely the old adage that it is ‘better to give than to receive’ is true. Make time to help others and enjoy their success, too.
8. Recognition – Being recognised for what you do is important to us all. Sometimes simply saying thank-you is enough.
9. Change – Nothing stays the same nor should it. Plan to make changes in your life and measure every step of the journey. The shorter the steps, the faster you’ll move.
10. Things – It’s nice to buy things, but perhaps not wise to define your success purely by what you can afford. Some of the most meaningful purchases that will define your success could be as simple as a thankyou card from someone you’ve helped.

So what does success look like to you?

In some of the areas listed, you’re probably already successful, or at least content. In fact, if you’re content, then you are successful. The things you want to change are those you feel are not working for you at the moment.
​
Your challenge right now is to question why you want the things and experiences you do.

Ask yourself, what are the things you want to change and why?

You need to be sure that your aspirations are truly yours and not conveniently borrowed from elsewhere. Adopting someone else’s goals and succeeding in reaching them will not necessarily make you happy. Do not be tempted to compare the size of your goals with other people’s. This is one of those situations where bigger does not mean better. It only means different.
 
In upcoming blogs we’ll cover the 10 questions we ask clients to help them understand quite clearly the direction in which you want to head, why they want to do that, what they can do to make it achievable and the 10 things that make everyone happy.
 
I'd love to hear your thoughts. Leave your comments below.

---

---

FREE DOWNLOAD - Discover the five habits that make retirees truly happy

---

There’s more to retirement than just saving a certain amount of money, as there are people out there who seem to have more money than most, but are still not happy. Download our digital guide today to learn from successful retirees.

Connect