If you were successful, would you know it?

By Wendy

Success is actually a pretty slippery business. Unless you're really clear on what it looks like for you, you may not notice how close you are to achieving it.

One of the most amazing gifts of getting to do the work I do is seeing people succeed.

And here’s the crazy thing.

Unless success comes in a big shiny package with a bow on top – most people don’t recognize how close they are.

And so they stop.

They think they need to figure it out AGAIN. They think they need to start over.

After a couple of rounds, they feel stuck – overwhelmed – disillusioned.

That can be a rough hole to dig out of.

Most of the time, the problem is that they never stopped to define what success, or the road to success, would look like.

So they miss the signs that they’re doing it – they don’t recognize their own progress. And because they don’t see what they’re doing as progress, they miss the chance to celebrate all the wins along the way.

Those celebrations are really important.

They keep us motivated, create momentum, and actually build on themselves to expedite our progress.

Another potential outcome of not knowing what success looks like for you, is getting distracted by shiny objects or other people’s agendas and expectations.

These can coax you off your path, and the next thing you know you're stopping to re-figure things out...

Back to the cycle of stuck and overwhelm.

So how DO you get clear about what success looks like?

Start by looking beyond the goal.

If the goal is a new job or a career change, success may look like having financial security and doing something new and challenging for one person, and be 100% about title, travel, or a pay increase for another.

You can see that even though the goal is the same, the path will look very different depending on the individual's definition of success. What’s on track for one is a distraction for the other.

Confidence comes from the clarity that you’re on the right track.

But that clarity is only step one.

In order to stay the course with the motivation and momentum it takes to get you all the way through, you absolutely must stop and NOTICE that you’re doing it.

You have to celebrate all the tiny accomplishments along the way. (a little self pat-on-the-back is all it takes)

So if you’re feeling stuck anywhere on your road to success remember:

1. Dig beyond the goal itself to Clarify what success will look and feel like for YOU.

2. Think of the kinds of things that a success path will require of you - actions you might take to reach your goal.

(And don’t forget to include less task-oriented items like showing up, trying new things, tenacity in the face of the bumps along the way) those too, are critical to the process and so they’re critical to the path.

3. And finally, CELEBRATE at the end of each day by asking yourself "What did I do today (big or small) to move me closer?"

And if you really want to get all those neuron firing in your favor, add the question, "What specifically about me made that possible?"

A little pat on the back is all it takes.