21 Different Ways to be Successful in Your Career

Have you ever thought that there might be lots of different ways to be successful in your career?

Perhaps you fall into the pattern sometimes of comparing your success to others?

Maybe you scour former colleagues’ Linkedin profiles, bemoaning their list of career achievements…

And somehow arriving at the conclusion that you are therefore lacking…

As if success can only mean one thing…

Or can only happen to other people…

Or, indeed, that success is somehow in scarce supply.

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We live in an era of infinite possibilities…

And if there is one thing I have learned over the 13 years I have been a Career Coach…

It’s that there is no one single definition of ‘success’.

Gone are the days where ‘success’ meant you must have landed a corner office.

Success is a far more subjective topic…

And the key to success (pardon the pun) is actually to jump headfirst into the 21st century…

And start defining what ‘success’ actually means to you.

And you alone.

I have now helped 1000s of women identify what ‘success’ uniquely means to them…

So that they can make better decisions, in alignment with their own values…

Stop comparing themselves to others…

And so they can stop sweating about that stuff that actually doesn’t matter to them.

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21 different ways to be successful in your career…

So here it is…

See what you think about these 21 very different definitions of success:

 

1 . “Success for me was about winning 3 new business pitches this year.”

 

2 . “Being offered equity in the business made me feel a success. That was a turning point for me and my family financially and it has helped us enormously.”

 

3 . “Being promoted to a C-level position was the ultimate recognition for me.”

 

4 . “Maintaining my senior leadership role – that I absolutely love – through a recent merger whilst sadly some of my peers were made redundant.”

 

5 . “Success is about making sure I have the quality time for my family whilst also adding value at work.”

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Here are 5 more definitions of success…

6 . “Negotiating for my company to take me on for a 4 day week and for them to cover the costs of my degree. I literally negotiated for my dream outcome.”

 

7 . “Leading an engaged team of 65 people across 3 regions.”

 

8 . “Getting out of my leadership role and never managing anyone ever again!”

 

9 . “Getting a job in my dream industry despite not having a traditional background to get there.”

 

10 . “Success for me has been about learning how to communicate my boundaries and to stop trying to people-please.”

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11 . “I’m an insecure overachiever. Success has been about identifying what triggers those behaviours and becoming less self critical about my work.”

 

12 . “Successfully negotiating my own remuneration and bonus package – woo hoo!”

 

13 . “Being able to dedicate the time I need to be a serious triathlete whilst still maintaining my senior finance job.”

 

14 . “Success for me means constant growth and learning. Unless I’m learning, I’m stagnant so constant challenge is important to me.”

 

15 . “I need new experiences. So being asked to run our AsiaPac office was an obvious yes from me.”

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And lastly…

16 . “I love being a domain expert! Deepening my existing knowledge and becoming a subject matter expert has made me feel more successful and fulfilled.”

 

17 . “Success has been about getting back into corporate life now my children are a bit older. Now is MY time! I am ready to step it up and focus on my career and progress my career.”

 

18 . “I love being in a operational role. I have no desire to be a leader. And I’m finally ok with the fact that this doesn’t make me any less successful.”

 

19 . “Success has been about reinventing myself, always working in different industries and within different structures.”

 

20 . “Success has been about investing in my self-care and becoming more mindful about my own needs.”

 

And possibly my favourite definition of all:

 

21 . “Success in my career has come from learning when to say ‘no’ to opportunities that would actually be wrong for me and my career.”

Get Promoted Faster! Get Your Copy of our FREE Resource: ‘The 7 Habits of Female Execs Who Get Promoted’

The possibilities of what ‘success’ could mean are infinite

There are so many ways to view what success and a successful life are.

The key to happiness…

Is to define exactly what success means to you…

And only ever judge your progress by your own definition.

With that alignment in place, you’ll be forever unstoppable… and forever fulfilled.

Rebecca x

 

Rebecca Allen is a Career Success Coach for corporate women who want to get promoted and show the world (and themselves) what they are really capable of. Her podcast, Her Ambitious Career, airs weekly and is crammed with practical career strategies to help you raise your visibility, gain recognition and build the confidence to achieve whatever they believe they deserve! Tune in and join the discussion.