As an authorpreneur, I am not just a writer and publisher of books. Like it or not, I’m a business. One of the things I’m putting renewed focus on this year is how I define success.
Over the years, that definition has changed. As a kid, desiring to get traditionally published, success was seeing my books in the bookstore. As I got older, it was seeing them in the bookstore, then on the screen after being turned into a film. Success was being big and bad and well-known, someone who was a household name like few writers get to be.
As I’ve worked on my craft, and created and published more and more books, I’ve shifted my definition of success. Not because I think I’m less capable of achieving those big, lofty goals. But because they don’t mean to me what they once did.
Yes, it would be cool to be a name-brand people recognize. I’d love to find myself as a voice on The Simpsons or testing my spice tolerance on Hot Ones. However, those aren’t how I define success anymore. My definition is now self-sustaining income and entertaining/inspiring/empowering readers.
Not shrinking, shifting
It might look like my definition of success has shrunk. From lofty goals to more practical ones. I would argue that’s not shrinking, it’s a practical, more easily understood redefinition.
Change is the one and only constant in the Universe. What I desired as a 9-year-old who had finished my first ever sci-fi book (it’s called Wildfire, it’s 50 pages and illustrated by me) is not what I desired as the high-schooler who won an award for his technothriller short story, and certainly not what I desired when I self-published my first fantasy novel in 2013. I’ve changed, and my definition of success has changed.
Why does it matter? Because as I’ve grown and changed, my needs/wants/desires have changed. For example, I used to collect books, various little tchotchkes, and things that went on shelves and collected lots of dust. Now, I no longer feel the need for so much stuff. Do I look at it and get joy from it or is it just collecting dust that I am not fond of removing? When my wife and I recently moved we purged nearly as much stuff as we moved.
My definition of success isn’t shrinking, it’s shifting. Part of that is because rather than being unsatisfied while striving for something that is statistically super challenging, I’m striving for something I can readily define. I’ve set a figure that’s not astronomical and impractical, but measurable and reasonable.
What’s more, my definition of success is still not written in stone. That’s because when I reach it, there’s room to alter it for a new definition of success.
Some of the people at the pinnacle of power might appear to be successful. But then, if you look closer, you see that they might have power, but they are miserable, jaded, narcissistic, never-satisfied piles of garbage in a candy-coating of success. Maybe I see it that way because part of my definition of success involves abundance and generosity rather than a I-have-mine-screw-you-fuck-off attitude and approach.
There is no right or wrong when it comes to defining success. If you’re not an author, artist, or similar stripe of creative, what leads to success for you is wholly different than what it is for me. Because there is no right or wrong, how you define it is what’s right for you.
Success might be finishing that book you’ve been trying to read for 5 years. It might be getting your kid to eat their vegetables. Success might be asking that person out you’ve been crushing on, or it might be them saying yes when you do. It might be getting out of bed without hitting snooze 5 times.
There is no One Great Epiphany or One True Way that leads to success. It is how you define it. Doing so at a practical, achievable level, where you can succeed via quantifiable measures, is empowering. From there, you can go bigger and bigger, changing your definition of success based on who, what, where, how, and why you are today.
Like you, success and its definition are always evolving.
This is not about participation trophies
The only caveat to how you define success is this: success is not just rewarding half-assed, unintentional achievement. It’s about setting a goal, even a small goal, and striving for it.
The problem with participation trophies is that they encourage mediocrity. If you’re a good cog in the machine you still get a reward. While encouragement of this nature can be useful, it also can be detrimental and disempowering. Striving to be, have, and achieve more – even a little more than what you are or have now – is how people create new ideas and grow and change the world.
Can success be going with the flow and being a cog in the machine? Sure, if that leaves you feeling empowered and content, you do you. Most people, at least people I know, desire to evolve and change, learn new things, do new things, and grow. Success is the realization of that.
Allow me to explain my current definition of success. I’m working on learning new avenues for increasing sales of my books, audiobooks, and the like. That, in turn, will take me to a level where I’m seeing profit above and beyond sustaining my ability to hire editors, artists, paid advertising, and easily cover other business expenses.
The dollar amount I’ve set is utterly reasonable, but not easy to achieve. Recognizing this new definition of success, however, is encouraging me and makes me feel empowered to strive for it.
Bigger than now or grandiose, success is how YOU define it. Whatever that might look like, keep striving and allow yourself to shift and change your definition as you shift and change your life.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you every week, please consider this: How are you inspired and empowered to be your own creator, whatever form that takes?
Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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