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Transcript

How Do You Define Success? · The Daily Writer

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, thanks for joining me for today's episode.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Back in 2014, I signed my first official book contract with a publisher.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was a tiny faith-based publisher, and the topic was Evernote, the productivity app.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I've been a power Evernote user for a very, very long time, for probably 15 years or so.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I was super excited to do that.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: But today, Evernote has kind of fallen out of favor.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: But way back in the day, around 2014, it was all the rage among productivity people.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: So this book was aimed at pastors and church leaders.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a book on a very specific app for a very specific audience.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: So talk about a niche topic.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, even though that was the case, I thought I had really hit the jackpot because it was going to be my very first published book.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I had worked really, really hard on the book for months and I was thrilled when it was finally published.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as you can probably imagine, the book hardly sold any copies, but at the time, I didn't really care because I was a published author and I was over the moon because I had achieved a goal that was the most important thing to me at the time in terms of writing.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I've got to tell you, in the last 12 years since that book was released, my goals have changed a lot, as you can imagine.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've published a few more of my own books with several more books coming out in the next couple of years.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I've written dozens of client books.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've started my full-time business.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: I ran a successful membership community and some other goals that I've achieved as well.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Many times I have made the mistake of thinking that as soon as I achieved a certain goal, I would feel like I quote unquote made it.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem with that kind of thinking is that as soon as you achieve a goal that's important to you, it becomes a little bit boring and you're already on to the next thing.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, success means different things to different people, and my goals may not be your goals, and vice versa.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's why it's important to have a definition of success that's based on a way that you can win every single day, not just in the big moments where you wrestle a big goal to the ground.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I really like how Earl Nightingale defines it.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: He says, success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I hang my hat on every single day.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: If I moved the needle toward my goals that day, then I consider that day a success.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: For example, today did I do some writing on my current work in progress.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Today did I make the calls that I needed to make?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Today did I show up with a grateful positive attitude.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Today did I follow up on the things that I promised I would do.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Today did I do the highest quality work that I possibly can do.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And today did I try to be a positive force for everybody that I came in contact with.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like if I can say yes to those types of things, then today was a success.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth here is that you can be a successful writer every single day if you're making progress toward your goals.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the truth, and that's why I hang my hat on what Earl Nightingale said, and I'll say that quote one more time success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hope this helps you on your journey, and I'll see you next time.