Measuring Achievement Versus Success — and Why They Are Vastly Different
"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." –Albert Schweitzer
This will be a fast read.
Achievement is what you have measurably done in your passions. Work, sports, arts, etc. (I intentionally keep relationships/family off here because I don’t think of those as something I have “achieved,” I think of them more in terms of endearment and growth). There are metrics for achievement, but I find it very important that we get to choose our own metrics just as we get to choose our own passions. We do this to an extent at our firm. We get to choose who and how many clients we work with, within reason. No one is pressured to take a certain number because they know what they want in terms of work/life balance better than anyone else. And we can move the needle. Achievement in a mile run to me used to be under 5 minutes. Now it’s under 6 minutes. In fact, that sub 6-minute mile, which I finally pulled off after years of failing to hit it, felt better than when I could run a sub 5-minute mile. So achievement can be seen as a function of effort toward that which which matters to us. You can look at this in business terms, athletic feats, even social media if it’s a passion of yours (I tend to be trying to get away from social media, but for certain to each their own). It’s a winnable endeavor.
Success is simple. For me success simply means “Do I still love what I am doing?” Be it my job, running, learning, etc. Am I just as passionate, or more, at what I am doing than when I started?
So by these definitions I have achieved at some things and failed at others. That matters so little to me at this stage in my life. I love my job and I love my hobbies — so I’m happy with the level of success I feel right now and I strive to stay there right there. It’s a happy place. I hope the same for anyone reading this, and I hope looking at success versus achievement in this light makes success all the more attainable and worthy a goal.
– Mike