How Do You Measure Success?

The world seems to be full of competition and personal drive. How do you measure your successes? As an artist do you measure your achievements by the number of paintings being displayed in a gallery or by the number of music CDs you’ve already sold? As an employee do you define your success by how far you’ve been able to climb the corporate ladder? As a gardener do you only feel accomplished once you’ve been invited to participate in a garden walk and received formal recognition for the fruits of your labor?

Do you ultimately measure your success by how YOU see yourself or by how others see you?

Do you consider yourself a good parent if your children are healthy, happy and well-adjusted? I watched a Hallmark channel movie just last night and heard a wonderful line. It went something like this, “A mother is only as happy as her saddest child.” I considered it a sort of epiphany. If you are a parent, like me, who is very tuned in with her children (whether they are still at home or grown and on their own), then this is probably pretty accurate for how your emotions can be weighed in with those of your children.

This is my 200^th blog post for A New Season of Insights. Who would have thought just a few short years ago that I would have THAT much to say or share? I know I wouldn’t have thought so. I wanted this 200^th post to be special and monumental and significant and whole lot of other important things. Wow, talk about putting a lot of pressure on yourself, but then I stopped and asked myself, “What’s your blog all about anyway?” I consider it to be conversational and real and relative. Nothing more, nothing less. So we’ll get back to measuring successes. How do I measure my success as a writer? I have a little more than 100 Facebook followers. Have I reached 500 or 1,000 readers yet? No. Will I get to that point? I can’t say (my crystal ball is still in the shop). At last count my Admin. page says I've had 9,667 page views of my blog. That seems impressive; at least to me. I’ve written 199 posts (before today that is). I’ve had some GREAT feedback from readers; some amazing questions and some heartfelt comments. The fact that I still get to wake up every day and think about what I will write continues to bring me great joy. So with that in mind, I guess that makes me a success.

How about you? How are you measuring your success?