Redefining success
January 1, 2011 at 8:10 pm 16 comments
On Thursday, while shopping for candy and trinkets to fill our New Year’s pinatas, I saw a small plaque with this saying: If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success. I chuckled, even as I appreciated the wisdom in those words. It was good food for thought as I approached the time of year famous for a regret-induced rash of goal-setting.
Later that same evening, I read a post at Writer Unboxed. Sharon Bailly talked about the roller-coaster ride that’s typical of the journey toward traditional publication. She found she’d reached a point where she just couldn’t do it anymore and instead chose to publish her novel as a blog. Despite the criticism she’s apparently received from some people, it was the right choice for her. She refused to let her concept of success be defined by others.
(Check out Sharon’s “novel on a blog” site HERE.)
This all got me thinking about the impact goal-setting has on my happiness, or on my sense of being “successful”. For sure at this time of year, there’s lots of talk about the importance of setting realistic goals. But even if my goals are realistic – if they’re well within the realm of possibility, given the application of adequate amounts of discipline and/or elbow grease – there’s a chance I won’t achieve them. And what then? Am I a failure? My head would say “no”, but odds are, my self-esteem would disagree.
Easy solution? Don’t set any goals. 
But I need goals! They keep me focussed, moving in the direction I want to go. I don’t want to look around in a few months or years and wonder how on earth I got so far off track. Besides, I don’t really think goal-setting is the problem. The problem is how much stock we put in the achieving – or not achieving – of those goals.
Do we need to redefine success?
Sharon Bailly has chosen to define success as “inner strength”. Me? I’m trying to measure my success in joy: am I loving playing with words and creating stories the way I once did, before I hopped on the publishing roller-coaster? Yeah, actually I am. So woohoo! I’m successful, LOL. Have I met all my goals, writing-wise and otherwise? Uh, no. But I’m okay with that. It doesn’t mean I’m a failure. Time to re-evaluate, revise my goals or set new ones, and keep moving forward… joyfully.
How about you? How do you measure success? Might you benefit from redefining what constitutes success as a writer for you?
Go ahead and define for yourself what “success” means. Doesn’t matter what your friends or family say, or what you perceive the writing world will think of your definition. It’s yours. Choose it, embrace it, and then follow whatever path is gonna take you there.
Peace….
Entry filed under: IslandGirl Home, Life, Writing. Tags: .
1.
Hillary Jacques | January 1, 2011 at 9:28 pm
Great post, Shari.
I’m currently defining success as improvement. Improved initial draft of the story, whether it’s a fundamental outline that can properly support a novel’s length or a first draft that won’t require major surgery before it can stand up to a read. Better pacing, meaning no more second act floundering. Better writing, meaning those few unexpectedly beautiful or twisted sentences that burrow into a reader’s mind.
Joy is, and always will be, an excellent goal.
2.
Shari Green | January 2, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Improvement is a great way to measure success — it means we’re growing, learning, moving forward…. Good stuff!
3.
Laura Best | January 2, 2011 at 3:54 am
Success for me at the moment is enjoying life, my family and new granddaughter. I’m also very much enjoying my current WIP with thoughts and ideas for a few more stories already building.
I do believe that a great way to measure our success is by the amount of joy we feel. Without that feeling of joy in our lives what does the rest of it actually mean?
4.
Shari Green | January 2, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Enjoying life, enjoying writing… sounds like a really healthy view of success!
5.
mE | January 2, 2011 at 10:41 am
Girl, you are so right about resolutions. That BLOG novel writing is rather a thinkable idea. FINALLY found out what has been slamming me up against “my” wall…I “feared” that after good (sometimes provoking beginning chapters) I got too much praise. Maybe that seems odd, but trying to continue writing as good as I was told I was, caused me to ? myself and nothing I wrote thereafter was good enuf and mentally I quit. Now knowing what/why I just might break thru in 2011.
6.
Shari Green | January 2, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Oh, I hear ya! Fear of how our work will be judged (by others or even by ourselves) can totally cripple us. I’ve always liked the image of closing a huge door behind me when I sit down to write — with my internal editor and any other potential critics on the OTHER side of the door. With no one looking over my shoulder, either literally or metaphorically, it’s easier to write whatever I need/want to write.
Here’s to a whole year of fear-free writing in 2011!
7.
Cinette | January 2, 2011 at 2:24 pm
I’ve decided to define my success as simply making progress. Will I lose 20 lbs? Will I write every day? Will I get my front yard landscaped? As long as I make strides towards those goals, I’ll be happy with that. Life still needs to be lived, and the journey is what’s important, not the destination.
8.
Shari Green | January 2, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Great outlook! Moving forward, enjoying the journey… sounds so much better than focussing only on the destination so we miss out on so much good stuff along the way.
9. Move Over J.K. Rowling Cause Here I come!! « Laura Best, author | January 3, 2011 at 8:58 am
[...] Green recently blogged about redefining success in our lives (you can read Shari’s post here.) I liked it when Shari asked the question: Might you benefit from redefining what constitutes [...]
10.
Carol J. Garvin | January 3, 2011 at 1:03 pm
A very timely post for me! I don’t make resolutions, but having goals in mind gives me something to aim for. When my goals slip out of sight I wonder if future success is threatened. I like your idea of measuring success by the amount of joy on the journey.
I think I’ll have to adopt that “redefine success” motto!
11.
Shari Green | January 3, 2011 at 9:01 pm
I really think creativity should be a joyful thing — sure, writing can be hard at times, and even frustrating, but overall, we should find joy in being the creative people we were made to be. I’m trying to remember that when I’m not feelin’ the love, I need to step back and re-evaluate, rest, replenish….
12.
Lisa Schroeder | January 3, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Yes, this: “am I loving playing with words and creating stories the way I once did, before I hopped on the publishing roller-coaster?”
Again and again, I have to go back to the basics, shut out the world, and get lost in a story and remember why it is I’m doing this writing thing. It’s not always easy, but so important.
Great post, Shari!
13.
Shari Green | January 3, 2011 at 9:08 pm
Thanks, Lisa. Even though I haven’t been on the roller-coaster very long, I’ve had enough ups and downs to convince me that in the end – published or unpublished, good reviews or bad, etc. – the one thing I need and want to hang on to is the joy. Hopefully, I’ll never forget that!
14.
Happy New Year – Dreamers! « Darlene Foster's Blog | January 7, 2011 at 9:02 pm
[...] Green recently blogged about redefining success in our lives (you can read Shari’s post here.) I liked it when Shari asked the question: Might you benefit from redefining what constitutes [...]
15.
Sherrie Petersen | January 20, 2011 at 6:34 am
Such a great post! You have to fail a lot to succeed a lot and each person’s standard for success is, and should be, different. And through it all, maintaining that love for what you’re doing is so important.
16.
Shari Green | January 22, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Exactly! Even if I “succeed” by another’s standards, if I don’t love doing it, it just doesn’t seem like it would be worth it.
Thanks for reading my blog!