Why I Define Success As Forward Progress

Years ago I was struggling to define success for myself. I used to set ridiculous goals and ideals that I was going to work toward and most of them never amounted to anything. I had vision boards, journals, lists and plans everywhere. I’ve tried setting deadlines, telling everyone I knew to keep me accountable and using positive and negative consequences. The results where always similar — I would lose momentum rather quickly and get frustrated. These big goals and dreams where fun to plan, but the future fantasy was much more appealing than the things I were doing today.

I was caught in a cycle, and not much changed even though I made lots of noise and movement along the way. I now know what I was doing is trying to figure out what success meant to me. Initially I was basing it on what I saw others calling success. I tried to emulate them and build my business and goals the way they did. I read, watched, dreamed and talked like they did, but it didn’t work the same.

Eventually I clarified and adopted my own goals of success, and yet I still found myself fading, as things would get tough and mundane. It wasn’t until I looked at the entire idea of success from a different perspective that I made real progress. Instead of focusing so much on the big picture and end result, I focused on being successful in the short-term. What am I winning at this morning, today, this week and this month?

As I examined my new framework for measuring success in short-term details I began to feel more successful. And the more successful I felt through these small accomplishments the more they added up. So much so that I made big progress on my business, checked large items off my bucket list and acquired some of the things and experiences from my vision boards. But I wasn’t thinking about those big wins every day — it was only months later that I realized I’d made the progress I was looking for.

“Forward progress is success”

What had changed along the way was I built a mantra for success that I could replicate — forward progress is success. That simply means doing something each day that moved me toward my goals. It didn’t have to be a giant to-do list, or some massive action — it simply needed to be the next step in moving me forward. I learned to set more realistic daily goals that allowed me to accomplish everything I needed to in a day to set the next day up for success. This means some days I’m successful with an email or errand, while other days are filled with hours of work, travel, pitches or meetings. All days can be successful by setting out a few clear daily actions. Anything further I did was a bonus.

I realized that what made me feel successful was not necessarily achieving the end goal of a big project or business idea. End goals only happen once, and for a brief moment. I prefer to feel successful now, tomorrow and over and over again. That kind of momentum keeps me focused and moving toward my end goals without obsessing over them. The immediate and constant positive reinforcement helps push me along to get up the next day and do more. It keeps me out of my head and spiraling into what if’s and negative thoughts.

End goals only happen once, and for a brief moment.

If you are taking daily action that moves you and your business toward what you seek, then you are moving forward regardless of your pace. We get obsessed with pace or time and making things happen now. But the truth is consistently moving forward an inch is a much more effective strategy than taking massive action that’s followed by frustration, burnout, and massive inaction. That’s a roller­coaster experience that yields little to no results, and eventually, you need to get off the ride.

Learning and implementing the success of forward progress is a key for every entrepreneur to turn their focus away from the vision board, big idea and victory lap planning. Instead point yourself towards a few daily actions. Build the habit of doing and this will serve as the engine to get any idea you have to be successful.

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