What does success mean to you?
Entrepreneur culture likes to glorify money and fancy things…
But to me, success is more about the people in my life, how I spend my time, and who I am able to help.
Whatever success means to you, it helps to define it clearly so you know what you’re working toward.
I recently sat down with Michael Jackness, a super sharp guy and a very “successful” marketer, and asked what success means to him.
I really loved his answer, so I thought I’d share it with you. Enjoy!
“ ‘Success’ has meant different things to me in different parts of my life.
When I was younger, I looked at success as how much money I had in my bank account…
And, like a lot of entrepreneurs, that was probably the only thing that drove me. I think that’s just sort of the American way.
But after moving abroad for a few years, living in a third-world country, getting different perspectives…
I realized that the cliche says that ‘Money doesn’t buy happiness’ is actually true.
Now I focus more on relationships — with my wife and my friends, but also with my co-workers.
I try to ensure that the environment we produce at our office is conducive to their having a great time and wanting to come to work.
It costs more money to provide that type of environment, but it gives me a greater sense of satisfaction knowing that people are coming to work every day and not only furthering their career but enjoying what they’re doing, too.
Listen, work is a third of your life. If you aren’t enjoying what you do, you have to find something else.
I am fortunate enough to say that I don’t have a lot to regret in my life, but something I do regret is spending a couple years doing something that I didn’t enjoy (even if, by many standards, I was ‘succeeding’ in life).
Success for me these days is waking up every morning, feeling happy, enjoying what I’m doing, and making a difference in the world.”
Highlights:
0:27 Focus on relationships
0:56 If you aren’t enjoying what you do, you have to find something else.
1:11 Success is making a difference in the world
Click Here For Video Transcript
but it gives me a much better sense of satisfaction knowing that people are coming to work every day, furthering their career, enjoying what they’re doing. Listen, work is a third of your life, and if you aren’t enjoying work every day, then you’ve got to find something else that you do enjoy, doing with a third of your life. I mean, I’ve spent years of my life…I don’t have a lot to regret in my life because I’ve been very fortunate, but the things I do regret are a couple of years I spent doing something that I just didn’t enjoy doing. And so, success for me is being able to wake up every morning and be happy, enjoy what I’m doing and make a difference in the world, provide products and services that people like and leave awesome comments about, and not rip people off to make a living. So, it’s a bunch of different components, but that’s kind of my definition of success these days.
