PP 041: 5 New Ways to Measure Success

Today, I want to start the episode a little bit differently. I’m going to ask you one question, and I want you to stop and think about it just for a couple of moments. After you’re finished listening to the episode, I would love if you would go to my website – to the show notes at TheKimSutton.com/PP041 – and let me know your answer to the question, and maybe how it’s changed while listening to this episode. That question is: “How do you measure success?”

Yes, I’m still here. I just wanted to give you a couple of moments to think about it. Some of you may have been sitting there thinking about white sandy beaches, or a big house, lots of money in your bank account, and I totally get that. I have been there, and I still have days where I think about success, and I think about these grand luxuries. But today, I want to invite you to start thinking about success in a whole ‘another way.

I want you to stop looking into the future, whether it be at the end of this year when you’re doing your taxes, in 10 years, at the end of your life. I want you to stop looking into the future when you’re thinking about success, and I want you to start measuring it on a daily basis.

I know you could be thinking, “What is she talking about?” But I’m going to give you a couple thoughts, or parameters, to think about on a daily basis, so you can start looking at your level of success on a daily basis and see how you can course-correct – so that at the end of your life, you leave the legacy that you really want to be living.

Now I must share: This whole episode has been inspired by a lot of learning, and reading, and connecting that I’ve been doing over the past couple of months. And the final straw was a post I saw yesterday in the “Smart Passive Income” group on Facebook.

Now, I have to apologize. The post was originally created by Nick Pavlidis – I’m probably saying his name wrong, but he’ll be on a future episode, so we’ll get the correct pronunciation – but he posed the question to the group, “How do you measure success?” And his response was not about how much money is in his bank account and the end of his life.

In this post, Nick shares about how he is going to measure his success this year, in 2017, based upon the amount that he gives rather than the amount that he accumulates.

So with that thought, I’m going to move forward with the four questions that I want you to think about on a daily basis.

5 New Ways to Measure Success – Question 1

The first question is, “Did I give to others?”

When I’m talking about giving, I’m not talking about financially giving. I’m talking about time and resources.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve started a new way of connecting with people on social media – particularly, LinkedIn. I’ve been sending an invitation to connect, letting the contact know a little bit about myself, and also inviting them to have virtual coffee with me. I’ve tried to make it really clear that I love giving referrals and resources whenever I know that I can help somebody and that no, I don’t expect anything financially in return for these resources.

Earlier this week, I jumped onto one of these virtual coffee calls, and I think I blew the person away who I was chatting with when I kept on giving more, and more, and more.

And I’m not trying to blow up my bubble in any way – please don’t ever think I’m trying to do that – but that’s just the type of person I am. When I think of a resource that can help somebody, I share it.

How can you help somebody – how did you help somebody today, where you were not expecting anything in return? I have to share credit for this question, as well, with Brendan Burchard – because in learning from him, I’ve also learned it’s not about the income you’re making. It’s about the impact you’re making. So as you’re giving today, think about the positive impact that you could be having on people.

5 New Ways to Measure Success – Question 2

The second question that I want you to think about is, “Did I spend and appreciate time with my loved ones today?” In the hustle and bustle that comes along with building our career and our businesses, it’s very easy to become so focused on the work that we’re doing that we forget to sit down and enjoy the moments that we have with our friends and family.

I have been so guilty – and I still have days when I’m so guilty – of working, working, working, and honestly getting frustrated when my children interrupt me while I’m trying to focus on my work. What I constantly have to remember is that my children will only be this age once. My husband and I will only appreciate this time once. My friends and I will only appreciate being in this time and moment once. So I need to make sure to take time out of my day to connect – and I mean really connect – and enjoy the moment with these other people.

At the end of our lives – at the end of our week, even, at the end of our month – the moments that our loved ones look back on are not going to be the ones where we were making money. They’re going to be the moments where we laughed together, they’re going to be the moments that we may have cried together – but there are going to be those moments of connection.

So how did you spend and appreciate time with your friends and family today?

5 New Ways to Measure Success – Question 3

The third question is, “Did I pursue my passion today?”

By “passion”, I don’t mean “profit”. If you’re purely chasing profit, I want you to take a look at your bigger picture. What is your “why”? Why are you doing everything that you do?

If your answer purely is “money”, then I why you know look at the bigger picture. What is that money being used for? Is that money being used so that you can spend more time with family and loved ones? Is that money going to be used for a bigger cause? And if so, is that cause your passion? Because if that cause is not your passion, then it’s probably time to re-evaluate what you are doing on a daily and consistent basis.

I was having a chat with a friend yesterday who is trying to build a business. And she shared with me that she was finding herself unmotivated to do the work necessary to grow her business. And I realize, I’ve been there. When I’ve had those moments that I was not following my passion, I had a really hard time being motivated.

So look at what you’re doing. Are you passionate about it? Is it your “why”? If you have questions about your “why”, Simon Sinek is a great resource. Or, I also invite you to take a look at my coaching page at TheKimSutton.com/Coaching and find out more about how I can help you develop your “why” and work it into everything that you’re doing.

5 New Ways to Measure Success – Question 4

The final question that I want you to consider as you’re measuring your success for today, in this immediate time, is, “Did I take care of myself?”

It’s so easy, especially when we’re parents, to take care of everybody else around us and forget to take care of ourselves. But there are little actions that we need to take on a daily basis to ensure that we take care of ourselves. And that is so vitally important because we want to make sure that we are here for years to come.

I know I have personally come to the end of very many long days and realized, “Oh, my goodness. I have not eaten anything today.” I’ve also pushed, and pushed, and pushed, and found myself awake at three and four o’clock in the morning – when I needed to be up and getting ready for a meeting at 7 o’clock.

Three hours of sleep is not going to cut it. You need to be giving yourself time – time to eat, time to sleep, time to take care of yourself mentally and physically… time to record podcasts without kids crying in the background.

5 New Ways to Measure Success – Question 5

How did you take care of yourself today?

So how are you measuring success? Is it the same way that you thought about it just a couple minutes ago when I started talking to you? Or have you started thinking about it a little bit differently? Either way, I would love to hear your feedback. Please go to TheKimSutton.com/PP041, and let me know what success means to you.

Now go forth, and have a positively productive day.