Success – 3 Powerful Questions to Chart Your Course

Success Bottle Cap

What’s a win? What does success mean for you?

Yesterday we started exploring the ways you define success for yourself, and how that shapes what follows.

Knowing what success looks and feels like for you and what meanings it carries is key to knowing how to achieve it. Without that knowledge, you may be pursuing goals that have no  resonance in your heart.

So we started with two tasks:

  • Asking yourself about the ‘success messages’ that you carry and where they come from; and
  • Exploring the messages more deeply, guided by questions I offer in the post.

So now, let’s continue this journey and create your own, unique success story!

So Let’s Step Back Again: What is Success for YOU?

Now that you’ve identified and unwrapped some of the messages you carry inside, I’d like you to get up, step away, stretch and take a few deep breaths. Now it’s time to open to what’s in your heart.

So, take a fresh piece of paper and write, “I feel successful when …” across the top.

Brainstorm at least 10 endings to that sentence. Whatever comes to mind is fine. Again, don’t censor yourself. Pay attention to how you feel as you write.

Rank Your Successes to Reveal Even More.

Once you have your list of 10 (or more) things that make you feel successful, let’s take the next step. I’d like you to rank each item, based on how powerfully you resonate to it, with 3 being strongest and 1 being least strong.

Do this quickly and then collect the items into three columns headed 1-Strong, 2-Stronger, and 3-Strongest.

Remember, this isn’t about the external importance or value of the item but about how you feel about it. Looking at what’s listed in each column gives you a concrete picture of what success looks like to you.

Let Go, Empower Yourself, and Make It Real.

Now you have in hand your old messages about success, along with what calls to your heart. Read through what you’ve written and highlight the elements that are in conflict.

Maybe preparing a meal to share with family or friends is something that makes you sing inside. But you also carry old messages that are at odds with this – messages saying that you ‘should’ be doing something different to be successful.

These are the kinds of conflicts that keep us paralyzed or send us down paths that are personally unfulfilling. As you identify clear areas of conflict, choose the one that holds the most energy for you.

Now highlight the one message that is holding you back and that you are going to let go of. Consciously tell yourself that you are letting this go, and pay attention to how you feel.

Letting go isn’t magic! You’ll bump into that old message again – and again. The stronger its hold on you, the more it will come up.

But as you loosen your grip on this relic from your past, you take an important step toward defining success for yourself.

THAT’S powerful!

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