There is no secret.

I have struggled with this topic for a long time. I have jumped back and forth about what success looks like for me or maybe what it should look like. I find it hard to define and it no longer feels like something I should ask other people about if I want to achieve my definition of success. What does it look like to you?

I hear success stories all the time. A lot of us do. There are successful business people, musicians, athletes, medical professionals, fathers, wives, and writers. There are also successful employees and CEOs. There are successful people who make $40,000/year and there are successful people who make $40,000/week. I have mentioned this in previous articles, but the top 1% of earners in any industry, any “position”, in a career, will make what most people consider a lot of money. Success is closely associated with how much money a person makes and there is a common misconception about who makes a lot of money and why. The top earners in the United States, in the world really, exist across all industries. As we know, some industries are considered better for making money. But are they really better? Or is the next famous artist missing out because it is “impossible” to make money as an artist so he/she decided to pursue a more lucrative career path? Is success only the money we make, the people we know, and the access we gain with both money and status?

There is no single definition of success.

Shouldn’t we be happy that there is no secret formula? I truly consider it a blessing. We get to make our own choices and prioritize our own interests and passions. The reason there is no secret is simple. Some people are born into successful environments, some are not. Some people create their own successful environments, others never do. Some born into successful environments end up missing out on the opportunity. Others, born outside a successful environment but with the fire to acquire it, end up creating opportunities for themselves. I study success stories and successful people because I have a vision of what I think success is, how to define it, and how I plan to chase it down and make it mine. Again, what does success look like to you?

Defining Success

The formal definition of success focuses on the accomplishment of an established aim or purpose. This does not apply to all aims and purposes. It does not apply to all people. Success can be unplanned and found through failure and mistakes, as long as it is accompanied by discovery and learning.

Consider success in the workplace, or in your career. People who make a lot of money or hold a position of power and leadership often earn the respect and admiration from those who care about what he/she has accomplished or the influence they represent. Take another look at the picture above. Why does the list include “late nights” but not “early mornings”? I firmly believe that as long as enough time and effort are spent, it does not matter when. Different times work for different people. This remains true for a fresh graduate coming out of college or the founder of a big company in the prime of their career. Therefore the definition is unique to everyone. In my opinion, if you are happy with your routine and results, you are on the verge of success.

Another part of my definition of success is its transitional component. An interesting transition happens roughly 8-10 years after people finish school. It doesn’t have to be college. I just mean when schooling is completed and work begins. Most of the people I know or the new people I meet discuss their careers. Initially conversations start as small talk with comments like, “I am two years out of college and I work in consulting.” Eventually, as time passes there is a shift in conversation and subtly in identity. People tend to shift to other language, “I have been in consulting for around nine years or so.” Is the accomplishment of finishing school less significant or do people identify less with accomplishments that happened too far in the past?

These subtle transitions in thought and mindset define success as ever changing. Interests change followed by efforts. Sometimes the change is a choice, other times it is chosen for us. All professionals deal with retirement, all success is temporary.

So what is success? Success is any progress made in any given environment. I want to emphasize this: progress in ANY ENVIRONMENT.

If you start working at McDonald’s, focus on becoming a manager. If you want to be a physical trainer, obsess over the ins and outs of effective training methods for a specific client base. Are you training long distance runners or explosive sprinters? Basketball players or football players? Did you start with 1-2 clients? Work up to 3. Chip away.

Do you teach middle school? How can you become a principle? Start talking with administrators at your school and read about the structure of leadership in the K-12 atmosphere where you live. What works well? What needs to change?

Are you in the data science industry? Find as many projects as you can to either observe new teams or develop new skills. It might feel like working for free but you are gaining valuable experiences that you can be paid for later.

Success is not just about moving up the ladder in your career. What are your other interests and commitments? Success is also the happiness that we get from spending time with friends, family, and focusing on self improvement outside of work. Success is about so much more than money and job title. It needs to be a balance and I want to make sure you do not lose sight of that.

When you search “success” online you might come across pictures like this one. I can say after about 10 minutes of scrolling, I could not find any picture that showed something different. They all pointed to the top right corner of the screen. Many of them displayed steps like the ones above, alluding to the inevitable effort of walking up stairs. Each step requires a certain level of effort to push up and onto the next one. Each step requires some kind of pause before moving to the next one. But what about times when you forget something downstairs right as you are about to reach the next step. You might end up turning around, walking down the stairs, looking for what you forgot and finding it, and then returning back to the stairs to start again.

My goal is not to critique the imagery found online but to consider the ups and downs, and side to sides of every career. It would be great to have all the answers, like knowing how many steps you have until you reach your ideal job or ideal life. Maybe it’d be nice to know that you’ll never take more than two steps at a time down the staircase. But what if you are on the wrong staircase altogether?

Chasing Down Success

A lot of people associate large feats with success. The reason I like to think of chasing it down instead of working up to it is because of the process of achieving success and how it actually works. It is fine to stick with the mountain analogy. A lot of effort goes into the climb. However, mountains serve more important purposes on our planet and their function, as it pertains to success, is so far beyond the pictures people take of the views at the top.

Chasing down success provides a reality that there is always a bigger stage with a bigger audience. Success is not one accomplishment or collection of accomplishments and that is why success does not equate to happiness. I recently looked up how many followers Lebron James has on Instagram. 131 million. The NBA is a big deal in the United States with a growing global reach. Then I thought about how popular soccer is globally and immediately thought of Cristiano Ronaldo and his Instagram followers. He has 476 million. If Lebron James cared about how many followers he has on Instagram, he would have some serious work to do.

Chasing down success is about more than making it to the top of a mountain, or mountains. It is about making sure you improve the health of the streams and rivers that rush down the mountain. The emphasis should be on the journey and what becomes possible once you reach the top. Think of it this way. Climbing the mountain might be necessary, but on your way up you drank from the streams, increased your cardiovascular capabilities, and experienced the joy of your surroundings. Yes, the views at the top are beautiful but you now know the work it took to get there, and hopefully you now know there is even more work to be done.

In the scenario of an employee working their way up to the level of CEO there must be sacrifice and hard work. There must be a baseline of knowledge and skill and there must also be co-dependence on coworkers and on supervisors for guidance along the way. A well-rounded approach could land you at the top of the company. For some, the top of their mountain means being the CEO. I respect that, but what is your top?

The next step is often overlooked, once at the top of the mountain, every decision seeps into the streams that trickle down the mountain side to other people, departments, and teams. The layoffs of the pandemic started at the top with decisions from senior leadership. As the effects made their way down the mountain, some pockets of water disappeared, others overflowed. Although I respect the goal of making it to the top roles in a company, the highest achievers and greatest leaders must remember to pass things on to the next person. All hikes start and end at the bottom of the mountain. The incredible feeling of standing at the top is only temporary. But if you pass the feeling on and include others in your success, the health and magnificence of the mountain will last forever. It is always about more than the single person.

To conclude, there will always be another mountain. Those who make it to the top, true leaders and those with influence, often see that biggest hurdles present themselves on the way down. You’ll want to make sure no matter how high you go and no matter how many mountains you climb, that you have solid footing and relationships on the descent. Success will follow as you create community and common purpose, so take a step back and decide what your mountain will be and how you will treat it as you work up, over, around, and finally back down.