Authenticity. A Pathway to Success

I am going to start this post with an announcement. I have a stalker! 😕😕

I guess that means I am officially a celebrity right? Who knows, there may be paparazzi outside by bedroom window hoping to catch a glimpse of my fair face as I type this post. While we are on the subject, what do you do when you have a stalker? Call the Police? Call your Pastor? Or go and wash your head at some shrine? Pray tell, as a part of me is panicking.

Now unto the post itself.

This post has been long in the making. I have been thinking a lot about authenticity as a trait and pathway to success. 

You see, success in my opinion, is an ephemeral concept which does not always justify the effort which goes into its attainment. My personal pursuit of success has led to get two degrees (I'm working on the third), countless certifications and short courses (I'm a fan of LinkedIn Learning), roles across different industries and companies - 5 different companies in 12 years - and life choices which have affected my personal relationships and family life both positively and negatively. 

Being successful is typically defined by some socioeconomic benchmark such as spending power, luxury vacations, net income, or just good ol' societal perception - number of cars, houses, wives or husbands. However, the ephemeral nature of success makes it a journey and not a destination.

This has led me to recently redefine success for myself. I define success as the achievement of my personal goals across the multiple layers of my life. I try very hard not to make this about stuff like the size of my bank account but rather my overall quality of life which includes the my state of mind, health and fitness, spirituality, the state of my relationships and overall sense of fulfilment. This definition allows me to make better choices which may not always tally with everyone's expectations of me but allows me remain authentic to myself and what I need to thrive.

Based on this process, I define success not as making money or buying that new car or landing that six figure job but rather thriving in this world, living your best possible life, attaining goals which were once dreams and doing it all while surrounded by people you choose, who genuinely love and care for you. 

Succeeding, thriving on this level requires authenticity, some vulnerability and a lot of hard choices because you create a baseline against which a lot of accepted or expected things fall away. One of such hard choices for me recently was making a decision to pick one job over another, everyone thought it was a no brainer but I weighed the costs against my baseline and the "better offer" was good on paper but required sacrifices in my personal life I was not willing to make. 

If you can field the backlash, insensitive remarks and weird, confused expressions, you are well on your way to being authentically successful in most areas of your life.

What do you think? Please post your feedback in the comments box below.

Thank you.

*Updated February 5, 2018*
P.S: The stalker was handled! #OliviaPope