The Measure of Success

Last week, I posted about goal-setting versus dreaming. This week I want to talk about the meaning of success. Once you’ve set your goals and come up with a plan to achieve them, it’s also important to determine how you will define success. In my previous post, I advised that goals be thought of as actions, not numbers or “things” to strive toward. In this way, your goals are more manageable and you are far more likely to achieve them (and stick to them). And achieving your goals equals success, right? Or does it? That depends on how you define it.

For example, there are a lot of authors jumping on the indie bandwagon these days with the advent of ebook technology and the relative ease with which it is to self-publish. And people are making real money. But there are also scores of people not make much money at all. And with the publishing industry in such flux, it’s really hard to know what one individual author really can achieve. One writer’s millions (Amanda Hocking) does not a criterion make. Most authors are not going to upload their ebook and see massive sales overnight. Maybe not even for months or years.

So, for those who have had modest to meager book sales, I suggest you do not compare yourself to the likes of those few Kindle millionaires that are making headlines. Instead, define what success means to you. Does it simply mean making your book available for the public? Does it mean garnering positive reviews? Does it mean being able to quit your day job?

Once you’ve figured out what it means to achieve success, it’s time to set about making it happen. This is where those goal-setting lessons come in. If success equals good reviews, figure out the steps it takes to get them and go after it. And just as in setting and working toward small goals, such as pitching your book to 5 book bloggers a month, it’s important to also set the bar for your successes. With a goal of pitching to 5 bloggers a month, perhaps landing 3 reviews per month should be the expected outcome.

It’s important to make your definition of success personal. Just like when goal-setting, focus on how achieving your goal will benefit you – not how others will interpret it. Because when it comes to measuring success, it’s really easy to compare yourself to the big money-makers and become discouraged or feel as if you’ve failed. But if you’ve defined your own measure of success, the only one you have to answer to is yourself.

So, what does success mean to you?

Good luck!
Lucie