How do you measure it? Wealth? Fame? Love?
👋🏼hello, I’m fabri
Ask any successful person (by whatever standards) if they considered themselves as such and chances are they’ll say they don’t. Just like beauty, success is in the eyes of the beholder.
So, if you don’t control the metrics, how does one become successful? And given no-one thinks they ever become such, does it really matter? I think it does.
Success is a proxy of purpose. A recognition from society that whatever you are doing, you are doing it well. This is true in business, entertainment, relationships and more. Unless you create a brand new measuring stick (ie. Forbes 30 under 30) the standards to which you are crowned a success get stricter the longer that standard is established for.
Being a good parent for example, is a barrier that keeps on rising. That’s a good thing for kids today, and for the ones that will come tomorrow. Standards help us all do better in life.
So what do you want to be recognized successful for? Growing up in Italy in the 90s everyone looked up to a suit. Without much thinking my purpose quickly became to become one.
It took me years to realize that in order to be a successful suit I’d have to give all of myself to someone else’s wealth and given my innate spirit of independence that was, unsurprisingly, a deal breaker. So I moved the post to entrepreneurship because it had all of the taste of being a suit with the added bonus of being in control. The innocence of youth!
Fast forward a decade of tireless hustling and here I am writing to share the wisdom collected along the way.
Success is not about becoming what you admire in others but instead finding your true purpose.
If you identify what really makes you tick, and it will most likely take awhile, you’ll be passionately committed to that mission like few others. People will take notice of your effort and before you know it you’ll be a success. The key is knowing what you are going for.
This is not to say that you can’t reach wealth or fame without passion. You can. But no matter how big your home is it will always feel empty without purpose.
Now that as a household we are financially secure, I’ve learned that wealth isn’t that important to me. Private planes nowadays aren’t as much of a priority as I once thought. What is it then? It’s something that plays well with my spirit of generosity, helping others succeed.
I’ve realized that when I’m coaching and advising time goes by fast and at the end of the session I feel fulfilled in a way that money and scale never afforded me thus far in my journey.
So there you have it, for the decade ahead success for yours truly will be measured by value rather than volume. Impact versus absolute scale.
What’s your definition of success instead? I’d love to know.
