SUCCESS & HAPPINESS Part 1
I wanted to write a post that everyone can relate to, so I’m going to talk about success and happiness. All of us occasionally get into a “rut,” whether it is in our personal life, work, or with our exercise and nutrition. When this happens I have found the most useful thing to do is to take a step back and do some self evaluation.
This past summer I went to visit my friend and mentor Tim Morrill, who is an excellent person to have insightful and thought provoking conversations with. One thing Tim asked me was, “How did you get to the mindset you have now and how did you get over your fears?” Tim could tell that something had clicked for me and that I was seeing things a little differently now. For those of you who know me, I moved out to New Jersey last year to go to school for my masters in Exercise Science and then eventually go on to get my PhD and become a professor. It was extremely difficult leaving everything I knew and those who I care about in Iowa, but I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and I’m a firm believer of the quote, “True growth comes from discomfort.” Well I was right about that and I have grown a tremendous amount as an individual and professional, but I wasn’t being completely truthful to myself about why I wanted to become a professor.
I have always enjoyed helping others and being an educator, whether it was through being a coach, manager, or teacher, but I also have always cared a lot about what others think of me, which is the part I wasn’t being honest about. I do enjoy teaching a lot, but a big reason I wanted to be a professor was because I wanted to be seen as successful in others eyes. I believe this to be a normal feeling, but what I have come to realize is that I need to be successful through my eyes first and foremost.
That led me to ask myself a question that we all should ask ourselves, what does being successful mean to me? What I decided was that success for me would mean that I am doing what I love, I’m surrounded by great people, and that I’m truly happy. Seems pretty obvious right, but so many people don’t do what they love, spend way too much time around people they don’t like, spend money to impress people that don’t care about them and aren’t as happy as they could and should be! Rather they choose job security, wealth, social status and other things instead of pursuing their passion. They accept things for how they are instead of looking to improve their current situation. Whatever success means to you, if you have yet to achieve it, what are you currently doing to work towards it? If you don’t have an answer to that question you need to do some self-evaluation as life is too short to become complacent and except mediocrity.
Truthfully answering the simple question of “What does success mean to me?” is what led me to these realizations and my current mindset. My challenge to you is to ask yourself and be honest with the response, what does being successful look like to you? Once you know the answer to this you can begin to take steps towards making it a reality. I hope you enjoyed part 1 because part 2 “Fear of Failure” will be posted soon!
