How do you measure success?

[Shu]

As the title says, how do you measure your own success? Are you the type of person who continually works on something to perfection? Or are you one that gets something done to the sheer point of acceptable?

Are you one that goes back to learn from their mistakes? Are you one that chooses to fail fast?

Let us know a little about your measure of success in the work or academia.

 

[charmy]

I’m bit of a perfectionist, which has it’s ups and downs. On the plus side, I’m happy with the work I hand in, but on the negative side, it slows me down because I want the work to be perfect so I spend too much time on it.

When I was in uni writing essays, I was often slow to write them because I couldn’t move on to the next sentence or paragraph without making sure I was happy with the previous ones (there were no rough drafts for me!) It was hard to just write and come back and fix it later.

But, in terms of measuring success, I think, for me, if I have set myself a goal or task that might be a bit more challenging (or any goal really) and I was able to complete it, then that for me is a success.

 

[Cardinal Copia]

Now what are we talking about when we ask for the definition of success? Are we talking about sports? Writing a story? Sitting down and drawing a picture? There are lots of different scenarios when asking about success.
For a nice simple answer for measuring success I'd say this. When it comes to being at a job and working with my peers I strive to be the absolute best at the job. I refuse to settle for anything less than being #1. I hold very high standards for myself.

Do I always hit that standard of being the best? No and I never will. There's some jobs that I just can't do and I don't have the patience for. When I begin to have any doubts about the job I'm doing I start to panic and let myself get overwhelmed. I get short tempered and act very irrationally. It's just who I am and its a flaw that I don't think I'll ever be able to fix.

Perfection and being the best, THAT is how I measure my personal success.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

I work on things to the point of diminishing returns, and then move on. Once the workload exceeds the benefit I think I'll get from continuing, it's strategically advantageous to start on something else and push myself there.

I measure my personal success by how true I stay to this philosophy.

 

[Galadín]

As a rule I try to always do better than what I've done before, because if you're not improving then what's the point! The measure of success for me would be to do something to the upmost of your ability and build upon it and push that limit each subsequent time. Realistically I know I won't be the very best at what I do, but as long as I push myself and improve, I hope that at least I'm going in the right direction Maybe one day in the far future you never know....!

 

[Mitsuki]

Hmm. I guess I'm just one of those weird people who don't look at work or academic achievements (or failures) as part of measuring my own success. Anyone can have a successful job but still feel like something big is missing.

In my honest opinion, there is no ultimate success; it's not definitive by any means. Things in your life can change. I think success is progression in multitude of things.

 

[Shu]

Thanks for the feedback! I think personally, and again this about yourself now, don't try to judge another's success. It's you that matters here. What do you care about the most in the task you have at hand? Completion is complete, when you think it is complete. Let's take a simple task, like walking your dog.

How far do you walk your dog? How many times do you walk your dog a day? Do you walk your dog at a dog park or around your own neighborhood?

You have only so many hours in a day. So all this to say, here is what I think about success.

Success is what you find makes you feel happy. I have slightly OCD friends, who have to focus on something so intently that it takes them a bit longer than most, but in the process do an immaculate job and also organized into such a way it could wow anyone.

It honestly matters whether or not I am doing a certain task by myself or is this project level where more than one person is involved. I think what I learned that some tasks take more than one person to do for parallel processing of said task. Building a table is now a two person job, where one person is attaching the legs and the other person is holding the table top. (I am trying to take simple examples)

Personally though I do like trying new things so I can fail fast and see what sticks in order to establish domain expertise. It's more like Acid testing. Is that successful? Nah. It just is the initialization process.

I think acceptable success is measured by your own happiness in your job at hand. As most people have said, situation's change. 1) You know the subject matter already and do this task again 2) You do not know the subject matter and you are doing it for the first time 3) You have dependencies from either internal or external factors.

I know with our two year old, I most of the times have to put what I am working on down to pick it back up again. I know with the dog, there are times where I have to be a good owner and walk her 3-6 times a day. Since I moved back to Nashville, I am called almost every other two days to do something with my family. So what deems one successful? Being able to establish the definition of done, and when to say no, and what is acceptance criteria of one's own mind of what's done.

Nothing can be done perfectly folks. Nothing. Your own measure of success, is the only one that should matter though. Figure that out, and be happy.

 

[Galadín]

Thanks for the feedback! I think personally, and again this about yourself now, don't try to judge another's success. It's you that matters here.

Nothing can be done perfectly folks. Nothing. Your own measure of success, is the only one that should matter though. Figure that out, and be happy.

Completely agree with that sentiment but admittedly it can be a struggle to follow such sound advice since it's difficult not to do the comparison game. I would have been 100% guilty of doing this - measuring my success by comparing to others, even going so far as to also use it as a measure of my self worth. It's taken a bit to learn and let go of this negative way of thinking but I still empathise with people who wrestle with this perspective. The struggle is real It's refreshing to hear from those who have a more positive spin on this!

 

[charmy]

Nothing can be done perfectly folks. Nothing. Your own measure of success, is the only one that should matter though. Figure that out, and be happy.

Thanks for the friendly reminder! I know I sometimes struggle to remember this too. It think it can be really easy to fall into the trap of depending on other people's approval for our own happiness and success. But you're right - nothing is perfect, and you can't always please everyone with your work, and that's OK.

Appreciate the positive thoughts to end my day!

 

[Mitsuki]

@Shu Definitely agree that success is what makes you happy - whatever, wherever that may be. I didn’t mean to sound like I was walking on people’s toes if it came out that way. I suppose I could have worded my post better. In my way of thinking, I just can’t connect success in a work or school environment alone that some people probably do. That doesn’t mean I don’t recognize those who have worked hard and achieved something of worth to them. Success is what you make it, and at the end of the day each of us have our own understanding of success.

For me, success is where the heart is, and that’s at home (I don’t mean this cozy, little place we currently live in either). It’s a personal journey that I go through with family on a daily basis.