This is enough for now!

"Sit tight, here comes the story"

At work

Lila had been tasked with leading a team to deliver a critical project with a tight deadline. If this project was successful, it could open new doors for her dream promotion. But she faced a critical project setback when a key team member resigned mid-project, leaving a significant gap in the team's expertise and capacity. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Lila promptly initiated a series of meetings with the remaining team members to redistribute tasks and responsibilities, ensuring that critical project milestones were still achievable despite the loss of the key team member. She provided support to the remaining team, and expedited the recruitment process for a replacement. Lila also fostered open communication within the team, encouraging collaboration and sharing of ideas to streamline processes and overcome obstacles.

Through Lila's leadership and proactive approach, the team rallied together, maintaining focus and momentum despite the setback. As a result, they successfully delivered the project on time and within budget, exceeding client expectations. The seamless transition and resilience displayed by Lila and the team during a challenging time demonstrated their professionalism and dedication to success.

At home

After years of struggling to balance work and family life, Lila made a conscious decision to prioritize quality time with her children. She implemented a weekly family game night where they would gather to play board games, share stories, and laugh together.

One particular evening, Lila noticed her children's laughter echoing through the house as they played charades. As she watched them bond and interact, Lila felt a deep sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. She realized that despite the challenges she faced in her career, she had succeeded in creating a warm and loving home environment where her children felt happy and connected.

In that moment, Lila felt a profound sense of success as a parent, knowing that her efforts to prioritize family time had paid off. The joy and laughter filling their home served as a reminder that success isn't just measured by professional achievements but also by the relationships and memories we create with our loved ones.

Let's talk about this:

Have you felt pressure to feel successful because so many people around you looked like they were successful? This pressure can come from social or family expectations, social media influence, personal ambition, among other things. While striving for success can be motivating and lead to personal growth, excessive pressure to succeed can also have negative consequences, such as stress, anxiety, and burnout. It's important for us to recognize our own definitions of success and prioritize our well-being and happiness above external pressures. 

We are used to relating success to one's career, like Lila’s team success delivering the project on time. But it's important to recognize that success is not solely defined by professional achievements. While career success is a significant aspect for many people, success can also encompass various other areas of life, including personal relationships, health and well-being, personal growth, and contributions to society.

In the context of career, success typically involves achieving goals and objectives related to one's profession. This might include advancing to higher positions, earning recognition or awards, achieving financial stability, making meaningful contributions to your field, and finding satisfaction and fulfillment in your work. From a professional perspective, my definition of success has evolved into finding ways to have more impact and influence, so I can make a more positive impact on the world around me. Through leadership, I am always looking into developing my ability to effect change and inspire others. And when I get feedback that a story I shared touched their hearts, or a conversation we had, help them talk to their teenage son, that’s when a feeling of success runs through my veins reaching my heart and filling it with happiness and satisfaction. 

However, it's essential to recognize that career success is not the only measure of success. Many of us find fulfillment and satisfaction in other aspects of our lives, such as spending time with loved ones, pursuing hobbies and interests, contributing to our communities, and achieving personal goals unrelated to our careers, like in my case, go on a hike with my husband without the kids 😄

The definition of success often involves the attainment of objectives, the realization of dreams or aspirations, and the fulfillment of our potential. Success is subjective and can be defined in various ways depending on our values, priorities, aspirations and also on the phase of our lives.  

For many years, I thought of success as having financial stability so I could support myself and my family. Coming from a middle class family and being the first in the family to go to college, I put a lot of internal pressure on me to be financially successful. As I started making money and could live comfortably, I realized that I needed more than a paycheck, I needed to feel satisfied and fulfilled at work as much as I was feeling at home. That triggered me to invest in a Master Degree and reinvent myself professionally. That’s when I confirmed my suspicion: success for me from a career perspective, was to grow personally, involving overcoming obstacles, learning from failures, and continuously improving myself. This process of personal growth has still been immensely rewarding and contributes to a deeper sense of self-awareness and resilience for me. 

Back then, when I found fulfillment and satisfaction at work, the biological clock was ticking and being a mom for me was synonymous with success. And, success in this aspect didn’t arrive as my husband and I struggled with infertility for years. All the professional achievements I had weren’t enough for me to feel fulfilled. But luckily later on, I was blessed, not with one but three healthy and beautiful kids. 

I’ve learned that feeling successful for me is to experience a feeling of fulfillment, joy and satisfaction: it can be as big as a new job in an awesome company (as I am currently experiencing this week) or as simple as the laughter of my kids when chasing them around the house for tickles. 

Sometimes, we get so wrapped up into “I will feel successful when I…” fill the blank! that we forget to savor success right now. For me, sipping my hot tea while reading a good book can trigger that sense of “being”, “having”, and “doing” enough. Hearing the giggles of my children, laughing at my dad’s jokes, taking in my mom's laughter, having a conversation with my husband, sending and listening an audio message to/from friends, laughing with my friends, all of these are moments of “this is enough for now” where I feel successful. They may, and will pass, but at that moment I was successful, I had all that I needed. 

Being present is the recipe of feeling successful, so I try to be present as much as I can, at work or at home. This way, I can continue to fulfill my energy bucket and I am able to blow bubbles of love whatever I go.

What about you? Have you felt successful in life? Are you living a fulfilling and meaningful life? I invite you to practice the “This is enough for now!” mindset.

How excellence looks like:

• We spend more time looking at what means to be successful for ourselves instead of taking into account what others think success means to you.

• We enjoy moments of success more often: a 10 minutes run for those that never ran in their lives, a warming hug when you needed it, your new job, your promotion, the feedback you got from a colleague that made you proud of your achievements, your kids’ hug, your child college acceptance letter, or whatever makes you feel happy and fulfilled.

• We celebrate our achievements as much as our learning from mistakes.

Food for Thought:

• “Sometimes we get so caught up in other people's idea of success, that we don’t take a moment to think about what it means to ourselves” by a good friend of mine.

• “A journey of a thousand steps begins with a single step” by Lao Tzu.

• "Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it." - Maya Angelou

Call for action:

• Seize opportunities, set goals, and embrace the journey. Your path to success starts with your determination and commitment. Take the first step today!

• Be present in each moment. Set aside distractions, focus on the here and now, and engage fully with your surroundings. Embrace each moment with intention and awareness.

Resources:

• The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) Official Trailer 1 - Will Smith Movie- I’ve watched this movie several times and I cry every single time. For me, there is no better movie to get me excited to pursue whatever dream I have. If Chris Gardner got what he wanted after all those obstacles, why can’t I? I got the pleasure to see him speaking a few years ago in a conference and can’t even explain how happy I felt. I felt successful, blessed and grateful that I had the opportunity to meet him in person after being a fan of his story for so long.