Want to be Successful? Define it First (with Michael Jackness)

November 6, 2018

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

Success, for me, has been different through different parts of my life. I think when I was younger, I always looked at success in how much money I had in my bank account. And that was probably the only thing that really drove me, like a lot of entrepreneurs, and I think that’s just somewhat of the American way. After moving abroad for a few years and living in a third world country and then also living in another…a first world country, but just getting different perspectives, I realize that the cliché saying of, “Money doesn’t buy happiness,” is really true. So, now I focus much more on relationships, relationships with my wife, also relationships with friends, and relationships with coworkers and making sure that the environment that we produce at our office is conducive to them, having a great time and wanting to come to work. Like, this is something I focused on a lot. And that costs more money to provide that type of environment,
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.