Success Isn’t Binary

The most remarkable people I know are also the least happy.

These are people that have dreamt-up, built and sold businesses. They’ve created careers for themselves, and those around them; people that had the self-belief to go all in when their hand was strong, and the courage to keep playing when it wasn’t.

They’re high achievers, in every sense of the phrase. And yet they’re still unhappy, still unsatisfied.

And why?

Because they think success is binary.

That it’s building a billion-dollar business. That it’s patenting some world-changing invention, or becoming a household name. That it’s doing something that no-one else has ever done…

…and that anything less doesn’t count.

But the truth is, most of the people I know that strive so hard for success already possess it — along with the admiration and respect of everyone that knows them.

And when other people conjure up visions of success, it’s their face that they see; their hard work, their determination, their unwavering grit that serves as inspiration.

But because they live their lives by someone else’s yardstick, they never see their success for what it is.

They hold-up billionaires and gurus as their benchmark — a microscopic fraction of the world’s seven billion people, people whose achievements can be attributed as much to timing, chance and luck as it can their intelligence and drive — and find themselves forever living in their towering shadow.

Some will argue that it’s exactly this unattainable definition of success that keeps them pushing, that enables them to achieve remarkable things.

But is their misery really a prerequisite to achievement? Do they have to spend their whole lives striving towards something they’ll never achieve?

Or is our myopic definition of success all wrong?

So here’s a message for all of the dedicated, driven, and downright inspiring people I know: success isn’t binary.

Instead of chasing your vision to the ends of the earth, look around. Take stock of all the little victories (and the big ones), and bit by bit, you’ll realise you’re already living the dream you’ve worked so hard for.

In my eyes, you’re a success. In time, you’ll feel the same.