The first step in defining and creating your perfect life is by defining how you will know that you are successful. The feeling of success needs to come from the words that you choose and how you define them.
One of my favourite bloggers Great Work blog, led me to Dharma Consulting and an image of success that is distracting people from their perfect life:
…Just then, a five year old girl and her mother enter the YMCA.
The little girl sees the cardboard thermometer. She runs over and presses her back to it. She stands up tall and calls to her mother, “How much am I? How much am I?”
The little girl has mistaken the fundraising thermometer for a giant ruler.
Her mother says, “That doesn’t measure how tall you are. It measures money.”
The little girl looks confused for a second and then asks,
“How much money am I? Am I a lot of money?”
“I guess you’re about $40,000.00,” says her mother.
The little girl smiles and skips away.
How much money am I? An interesting question.
From one perspective, it makes no sense.
I’m not measured in money.
And yet, that’s how I was feeling.
The loss of my net-worth emotionally equated to a loss of self-worth.
My self-worth and my net-worth had become confused.
I was like the little girl. Mistaking my stature (my value) for my portfolio.
And when I identify my self with things such as a bank balance, title, position, achievements, or possessions – the clarity of my judgment is obscured.
I make bad decisions when I confuse who I am for what I own.
I will tend to substitute prestige and power for personal development. And focus more on acquiring things than deepening relationships.
The confusion of self-worth with net-worth leads to the very kinds of decisions that produced the current financial crisis…. (more)
How do you measure your success?
Tags: success
