Your Relationship with Success and Two Important Ways To Measure It
What’s your relationship like with the word “success”? You’ve already read the word at least twice now. What sensations did you feel in your body? What thoughts arose in your mind? There’s no right or wrong answer here, just recognizing how your body reacts or your mind perceives the word is meaningful enough to indicate that a relationship DOES exist between you and success.
Personally, my relationship with success has evolved over the years. For the first 30 years of my life success was strictly quantitative (e.g. relating to measurements, numbers and or statistics). I associated success with pressure, the need to overachieve and always be the best. As a competitive athlete, I felt that being measured by my batting average, on base percentage or the number on the scoreboard at the end of each game was all that mattered. As a corporate employee, I felt like my worth was defined by some return on investment generated, the results of my marketing campaign or my annual performance rating at the end of the year. Even as an entrepreneur, I’m constantly evaluating myself by the number of clients signed, how much revenue I generated and more.
All those quantitative measures provide insight, accountability and self-reflection to one’s own success; however, there’s another half to the story of measuring success that is equally, if not more, important - the qualitative measures.
In general, qualitative measures are the ones that show up without the percentage symbols or the dollar signs. They are the BALANCE to that which can be quantified and typically are measures that describe traits or characteristics. Qualitative measures show up through internal or external observation and help shape the story of success.
At 38 years old, my definition of success now includes both a balance of quantitative and qualitative measures. That balance has materialized and grown, especially over the past few years, since launching my coaching business where I have helped numerous clients develop their own relationship with success as well as hone their individual measures. One of the first things I see when working with my clients, and very similar to my past, is the desire to immediately zoom right in on the hard or quantitative facts about their situation. These quantitative measures are great ways to validate results and should be something to feel extremely proud of; however, I am constantly reminding my clients about the qualitative measures. I say to them “Don’t forget to give yourself credit for the qualities and characteristics you displayed that led to your achievement.” Let’s explore some examples of quantitative measures of success vs. qualitative below. Think about how each of them make you feel when you read them aloud. Which ones truly make you feel more proud of a particular accomplishment?
EXAMPLES OF Qualitative Measures OF SUCCESS
Receiving positive feedback from your manager
Getting reassurance from a colleague
Gaining confidence in taking action
Feeling commitment to new routines
Being present with your family / friends
Having the courage to ask for what you really want
EXAMPLEs of Quantitative Measures of SUCCESS
Achieving 500 social media followers
Signing 2 new clients
Generating another $5,000 in revenue
Attending 4 meetings in a single day
Securing a $10,000 sign-on bonus
Receiving a 10% raise
The bottom line is that your qualitative successes are just as important as the quantitative ones and I’d argue that they can be even more important depending on the situation. Why? Because they are a measure of success which is FELT through the energy you EMBODY and the energy you EXCHANGE in your actions. Time and time again, I’ve witnessed that when you focus more on the qualitative results you wish to achieve, the quantitative measures of success will follow. And not only will they follow, but you’ll feel more intentional, connected and aligned during the process!
Have some great examples of qualitative measures of success? Feel free to share your thoughts with me below!