What is Your Most Significant Measure of Success?

The following is adapted from ENRICH, by Todd Miller.

If you could do anything in the world right now, what would you do? More importantly, would you continue doing the work you currently do?

Charles Scott wrestled with these questions. His problem was not that he didn’t know how he wanted to spend his time — that was clear to him. The challenge lay in reconciling that ideal with the career ladder he felt compelled to climb.

In his career prime at age 43, Scott walked away from a fourteen-year tenure with Intel Corporation. He’d done well at the world’s largest semiconductor chipmaker. But the multi-week international business trips had taken a toll on his family life. He wanted more time with his then-young kids and more adventures outside the office. Scott shifted gears and walked away.

However, he realized that he still had to sustain his family financially. So he dug deep to identify his strengths, his interests, and how he could make a meaningful professional Impact. That process of self-discovery led him to a career as an executive mentor.

He now spends his time speaking and running workshops, in person and virtually. He conducts web sessions with groups of executives. This structure allows him to maximize free time and maximize his earnings per hour of work. Helping other executives also gives Scott tremendous professional satisfaction.

I know Scott well; we were roommates at Vanderbilt, and we both jumped off the corporate ladder around the same time a decade ago. Scott stayed off the ladder; I later climbed back on. These days he is hard to track down, because he is all over the map doing the things that light him up, from scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro to running across the Grand Canyon. I once asked Scott about his proudest achievement at Intel. He paused, looked upward, and then, after some reflection, replied, “The courage to leave.”

The courage to leave. Charles Scott exemplifies the one who rejects the default setting.

The Default Setting

Most of us reading this would say that Scott is living the dream. Our lives do not look like his. Instead, we are preconditioned to climb the ladder, without considering alternatives. The typical life arc looks something like this: we spend the first quarter of our lives learning. We then spend roughly half our lives — for many, that’s forty years! — earning. In the final quartile of our lives, we then do what we wish we could have done all along. How crazy is this?

The thing is, that was Scott’s original trajectory as well. He was on that default path. And it was good to him. It would have been easy for Scott to continue in a comfortable corporate role. Professionally he thrived — he was a success by any standard. But professional success was not enough. He dared to walk away.

How can we have a life that’s more like Scott’s?

Taking Control

Courage is part of it, of course. But Scott also took control. He managed to reject the default setting by creating a viable and superior alternative. He took the time to understand his priorities and then focused on building his life around them.

It wasn’t always easy. Economically, it was a difficult journey for Scott to get from the cushy corporate job to where he is now. He went through a challenging period, which he calls “The Abyss,” when he burnt through his savings and went into debt. His wife worked at the time but living in Manhattan requires dual incomes. During his career transition, Scott had resolved not to compromise his family’s standard of living. This was a nonnegotiable priority.

During The Abyss, Scott thought about returning to the corporate world. But he had outlined his priorities and the life he wanted to live; he knew that getting another corporate job would mean failure. So he set an ambitious goal to earn a specific amount of money within a particular time. With the laser clarity of this focus, Scott was able to achieve that goal in six weeks, which led to the next target. He had momentum.

He prospers more today than during his corporate days and enjoys 100 percent control over his time. He figured out how to make money in minimal time and while making a difference in people’s lives. He plans to continue doing this for the rest of his life.

Many of us accept the default setting because it’s easier and there’s little resistance. With life set on default, someone or something else usually dictates how we spend our time. We must react to time pressures imposed by a boss, a client, a constituent, or a market situation.

But for people like Scott, the most significant measure of success is not their bank balance.

It is whether they have 100 percent control over their time. When you control your time, you are in control of your life.

For more advice on finding your life’s purpose, you can find ENRICH on Amazon or visit Enrich101.com.

Todd Miller is an American-born entertainment executive who has extensively researched and aggressively experimented with the work-life equation for over a quarter century. While scaling the corporate ladder, Miller skillfully structured two sabbaticals, intentionally created a family through adoption, cycled coast to coast across two continents in support of children’s charities, and explored more than 100 countries on all seven continents. Drawing on ENRICH principles, Miller built time wealth and passive income while working full time. At age 53, the American-born author has retired on the Andaman Sea in Thailand, where he devotes his time to enriching connections with people and projects. For information