What is success and why is it essential to define it?

Most people say that their biggest desire is to achieve success in their careers and personal lives. But, what is success? Do you really know what it means?

The definition of success is not a fixed one. It changes according to each person’s perspective. That’s why it is up to each one of us to define the concept of a successful professional, and individual, to make the necessary effort to reach these objectives.

Whatever your idea of success, know from the start that it is not possible to achieve it without hard work.

But don’t despair. In this text, we will share some tips that will certainly help you!

The different definitions of success

Although the definition of success changes from person to person, there are some indicators that the professional is on the right track.

Let’s talk about each one of them:

1. Working from home

Among the many indicators of success, we have the place of work.

Most people in the job market today dream of being able to carry out their activities from their homes.

The comfort of working from home s an advantage, since it represents saving time (not having to commute) and, consequently, improving the quality of your life.

2. Working on the road

On the one hand, we have professionals who are now willing to give up on the comfort of their homes. On the other, we have those who believe that success has more to do with the possibility of working from anywhere in the world.

This kind of work has gained more and more popularity, with the emergence of the digital nomads.

3. Spending more time with the family

One of the most traditional definitions of what success is involves spending quality time with family.

Having time to see the children grow, providing support to the partner, and taking care of the important people in your life is one of the basic objective of most entrepreneurs.

For these professionals, success is not merely connected to financial gains. Having time for your loved ones is as important or even more important than making a lot of money.

4. Having autonomy to create your own schedule

The traditional job market is known for providing  little freedom to the professionals. Fixed schedules and long working hours may lead to extreme exhaustion in the end of the month.

For this reason, the definition of success as freedom to make your own schedule is very present in today’s world.

Professionals increasingly want to exercise control over their own productivity, and have a say in when, how, and where to carry out their activities.

5. The possibility of offering something innovative

Usually, entrepreneurs don’t simply want to sell products, they want to have a positive impact on the market and develop a product or service with really adds value to the consumer.

Achieving success, then, may mean to create something that is truly useful and innovative, which solves real problems people have, and also creates social engagement.

6. Achieving financial independence

Financial independence is a consequence, rather than an objective. It is achieved by everyone who takes the initiative to do business and makes an effort to offer the best products and services on the market.

Having a lot of money is not a determining factor for success, but achieving financial independence is a very common goal among professionals.

There’s nothing better than making money out of something that gives us pleasure.

7. Having a business that shows your vision and your values

More important than having a business, is to show to the market a bona fide business, that reflects the values and vision of the entrepreneur.

Bringing business and pleasure together enables you to develop more efficient goals and strategies. You can clearly see that those who work with what they love can carry out their activities much better.

There are many professionals in the market that don’t consider themselves successful because they are working with something that does not match their own ideas and values. Another example that money is not the only indicator of success.

8. Being able to lead others

Those who have inspired people at some point in their lives know how good it feels to be a leader.

Leadership is translated in the ability to guide people, transforming thoughts and being an inspiration. Leaders are capable of bringing about changes to work environment, getting the best out of people, and encouraging teamwork.

This is yet another definition of what success is: being capable of leading people and being an agent of transformation.

If this is your definition of success, take this opportunity to read our posts with recommendations of books on leadership.

9. Having a positive influence in the world

The world can be a very pleasant place for everybody, as long as people behave in a way to have a positive impact on others.

You don’t have to believe in energy or anything supernatural to agree that the influence we have on the world can lead to positive or negative results.

Maybe, the success you seek is found in the ability to add, to generate value, and having a positive influence in the world around you.

10. Having free time

Having free time is so important that, even in traditional jobs, you have vacations and paid holidays. After all, no one is able to work at their best all the time, which wouldn’t even be healthy.

We need free time to do other things, or to do nothing. Leisure without free time simply doesn’t exist.

If you can have fun at work, enjoy the weekends, go on trips, visit friends, and do other activities, you can consider yourself successful.

Why do you need a definition for success?

The importance of determining the concept (or concepts) of what success is, is found in the goals and strategies developed to achieve this success.

It’s impossible to achieve results without planning short, medium, and long-term goals. A well-structured business plan is also extremely important for you to make decisions calmly, aiming at sustainable results.

If your objective is to be your own boss, for instance, working in the traditional job market may be a huge problem.

But what can you do to change things? That’s where planning comes in.

Why is the digital market a good option for you?

All the concepts of success shown above may be found in one single place: the digital market.

It’s a rapidly expanding segment, which enables the professional to develop their abilities and potentials, be their own boss, have more time for the family, and work from wherever they want, whenever they want. These are only some of the advantages of working online.

Just to give you an idea of how big it is, in 2017, over 6 million American students (which correspond to 25% of college students) were enrolled in distance education. And it’s not only in the USA. India, China, South Korea and Australia are some of the countries leading the way in online education.

This means this market has an enormous potential for everyone who wants to invest.

What can you do to achieve success?

Whatever your definition of success may be, one of the first steps you need to take to reach your objective is to set goals.

Thinking about where your brand will be tomorrow, the next month, and the next year, is essential to keep up with the development of your ideas.

Don’t just have goals for the following years. Being an entrepreneur means to grow a little bit every day.

Next, we have come up with 5 more steps to help you along the way to achieve success in your career:

1. Analyze strengths and weaknesses

Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. The strong points must be explored more and more, whereas the weak ones should be developed to prevent them from becoming a problem for you business.

Identifying these strengths and weaknesses is important for you to start thinking about strategies and recruiting professionals to fill the gaps you have in specific areas or matters.

Something that can really help you to identify these characteristics is the SWOT Diagram:

2. Study the market to stand out

The market is in constant transformation, and that’s why you need to keep up with the latest trends.

Working with strategies, methodologies, and techniques that worked well in the past may not be a good idea. A simple change in the market mechanisms and that’s it! These techniques are now completely useless.

To stand out, you need to keep an eye on the market, study it and find gaps you can act in.

3. Develop good partnerships

In the digital market, not everyone is a competitor. Many players can act as partners, facilitating processes and providing support in exchange for other benefits.

There’s no point in wanting to grow on your own. Besides being much more difficult, it does not represent the values of entrepreneurship, which is based on developing business partnerships.

4. Create an online course

If you’re looking for a way to start right away, one of the best paths you can take is to create an online course.

Remember what we said about the Distance Education market?

Soon, it will be responsible for most of the educational content sold all over the world, and not only in higher education. More and more consumers are interested in free courses.

Knowing a specific technique and sharing it with other people may be the best way to make money online. Discover what your main talents and skills are and turn them into a business idea.

5. Work online

Besides online courses, the digital market enables the sale of other products and services on the internet.

There are those who say that 90% of traditional jobs can be adapted to the online environment.

Would you like some examples?

• Lawyers can be consultants;
• Copywriters can attract customers and develop projects that can be delivered online, without the need for an office space;
• Teachers can teach online classes.

There are many possibilities! We have already written a post with 19 ideas for you to work from home and make money.

In the end of the day, success depends exclusively on each professional, because it is necessary to overcome inertia and come up with powerful strategies to achieve your objectives.

What will you do? Tell us in the comments section below!