Hello, dear friend,
I was recently invited to speak on a podcast where the host thoroughly prepared the questions to explain my story about how I managed to be successful in times of change. After a long conversation that turned into a two-hour-long podcast episode, I left with many questions about success. I am motivated by the idea of success, which has come in many shapes along the years, and one thing I know for sure: for me, success is profoundly multidimensional and multilayered.
What is multidimensional success?
For various people, there are various dimensions that count, but I will share briefly my own pillars here, hoping to detail all of them in future articles:
- Professional achievements. I often find a sense of purpose and identity through my professional endeavors. The work I do and the roles I hold have become integral parts of who I am. This is one of the reasons why I started working very early in life, around the age of 16, started my first business at 20, and added multiple projects in different fields over the years. I get energy and validation from the work I do and it is a great way to manifest myself as an entrepreneur and as a person.
- Financial well-being. This is a state of financial health and stability that allows me to meet my current and future financial needs, both personally and professionally. It encompasses various aspects beyond just income, including financial security, effective financial management, and the ability to plan my future on secure financial grounds.
- Personal well-being. This is the number one aspect on which I build a successful life, something that I had to reconsider after several crucial moments in my life when I experienced burnout, depression, or severe fatigue. What I focus on here are habits related to my physical health—daily exercise, healthy diet, good quality sleep. Then, I focus on mental and emotional well-being, like a daily mindfulness or meditation practice, paying attention to my emotions, and managing stress. Over the years, I worked with many therapists and coaches to develop my introspective skills and understand the signals that my body and my emotions are transmitting.
- Continuous learning. This is my favorite way to measure success, as it shows adaptability to an agile world and a connection to my desire to develop more skills. It is said that success has a strong luck-related aspect that is activated through continuous work in a field and the ability to act on opportunities. So being exposed to learning is the first step to go.
- Quality relationships. I always say that the success of a business is connected to the ability of the entrepreneur to build quality relationships while growing the business. I would not take any career opportunity that has the possibility of affecting my relevant relationships in the long run and this is how I check when I am in doubt about making a career decision. We are profoundly impacted by the most relevant relationships in our life and, in the long run, we become similar to the people we surround ourselves with the most. Are these relationships a sample of who you aim to be?
- Social happiness. I am an educated extrovert who loves being surrounded by people in specific conditions. I feel uncomfortable when exposed to big groups, but I love knowing new people in smaller groups of friends-of-friends. I intentionally organize gatherings and one-to-one meetings with people I admire, and I would like to know them better.
- Meaning and purpose. Success is rooted in actions and pursuits that align with my core values, providing a sense of authenticity and purpose. This is an ongoing journey to calibrate my work, my learning, and my relationships according to my vision of how I can make an impact, build long-lasting connections, and contribute according to my potential and interests.
What is multilayered success?
If multidimensional success refers to the horizontal aspects of success, the multilayered aspect offers a vertical perspective and shows how becoming better and more knowledgeable in each area is a constant in my life in order to consider myself successful.
One cannot be an expert in too many fields but can have an educated opinion in many areas or industries. I completely resonate with the approach that we should be exposed to as many areas of exploration as possible and become experts in a few of them.
Every year or at every stage of my life, I deliberately dedicate time to improve some aspects that are part of my dimensions of success. The way I choose is sometimes related to where I feel the need most, like personal well-being after a period of intense work or continuous learning when I discover a new interest that impacts the future of my work, like artificial intelligence. I also choose my focus based on my goals and where I am compared to my goals. Financial well-being is the easiest to measure here and calibrate what actions I need to take or change to get back on track.
Looking at success both from a multidimensional perspective and a multilayered one makes me think twice before answering success-related questions. If my business was profitable and growing for 19 years, is it enough to call me a successful person? If my passion for education is a constant that motivated me to enroll in different forms of education, is it enough to call me a successful person? If all the dimensions of success are satisfactory for me, are they deep enough for the general public to call me a successful person?
The more I question, the less I feel like I know the answer.
My role models are people who look at success from a similar perspective and don’t limit the meaning of success to performance in one field, whatever that is.
How do you count successes in your life?