Redefining Success
Moving beyond external measures to define success on your own terms, aligned with your values.
Also known as: Personal definition of success, Success on your terms
Category: Concepts
Tags: successes, values, meaning, self-awareness, life-design
Explanation
Redefining success means consciously choosing what success means to you rather than accepting society's default definitions (wealth, status, fame). Arianna Huffington's 'Thrive' advocates adding wellbeing, wisdom, wonder, and giving to the traditional success metrics of money and power. Redefining success involves: examining inherited assumptions about what matters, clarifying personal values, including internal measures (peace, relationships, growth) not just external ones, and giving yourself permission to want different things. This isn't about lowering ambitions but about aligning them with what actually brings fulfillment. The process often happens after: achieving traditional success and finding it empty, burnout from chasing wrong goals, or major life events that force reflection. For knowledge workers, redefining success protects against success-without-fulfillment and enables pursuing goals worth achieving.
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