What Is Success?

Last week I shared with you that my goal for 2018 isn’t to do a massive overhaul of my health, fitness, or our budget. Instead, I’m going to take each month as an opportunity to explore a topic or engage in community, and I’ll also see if there is a habit or behavior I can take a break from. January is all about exploring what “success” really means in a holy hustle lifestyle, while I do my best to say “no” to sweet treats.

So far, so good on that last one! I even held strong against chocolate cake with peanut butter icing at a staff meeting.

As I’ve lived this message of “holy hustle” and tried to figure out this balance between work and rest that gives God the glory through our actions, I realized I needed to overcome a few old ideas I was holding on to. Definitions of success, failure, and work all had to change from what I’d believed for so long before I could step into the freedom of using my gifts joyfully for God.

I wonder how you would answer this question? What is success?

Social media tells us success is all about numbers – so, is it a popularity contest?

The corporate life I used to have said success was all about titles and raises – so, is it a status symbol?

When asked earlier last year how they define success, several very well known figures had their definitions of success shared by Business Insider:

• Richard Branson: “Success should be measured by how happy you are.”
• Arianna Huffington: In addition to wealth and power, she adds “well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving” to her definition.
• Warren Buffet: “I measure success by how many people love me.”
• Maya Angelou: “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

Those are wonderfully tweetable quotes, but for those of us who want our work to honor God and grow His kingdom, they’re missing the mark. The world defines success by “what’s in it for me” – but in holy hustle, success is defined by “how can I serve?” 

This week, let’s take some time to figure out what we’ve always used as our definition of success and ask God to reveal where it might be holding us back from working with abundant joy. How is our understanding of success keeping us from doing the thing God is asking us to do, and how might a slight shift in our definition give us the freedom to fearlessly pursue the places and spaces God has prepared for us?

Next week we’ll take a look at what Scripture has to say about success – but in the meantime, if you have a holy hustle story you’d like to share with me (how you have been blessed by serving instead of striving, or what a “work hard, rest well” lifestyle looks like for you) I would LOVE to hear them! You can email those to me any time 🙂