“When I graduated college, a lot of my friends had a clear idea of their definition of success was. It was getting through medical school and one day becoming a doctor. It was winning a Tony for a Broadway musical. It was getting hired as a journalist for the New York Times. I did not have any clue as to what my definition of success was. I could make something up, based on what I had heard or read. I could say, “I’ll know I’m a success when I win a Pulitzer.” But What has proven more helpful to me has not been defining success now and then searching for it. It has been allowing success to redefine itself again and again by listening to myself. By checking in over and over saying, “How do I feel about this?” And sometimes, the answer is, “Wow, I don’t like doing this.” Or the answer is “This makes me really happy. I love doing this. Why do I love doing this? What is it about this that is bringing me joy and feels meaningful? What do I need to do to find more opportunities to do this?” Of course if you know you want to be a doctor or journalist or a social worker or anything at all I salute you for having that clarity of vision; I’m not saying you should not have goals, but rather that by listening to myself I can tell when I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. For now, success is when I’m working on things that bring me joy and meaning and I might find that joy and meaning in the most unlikely of places. But invariably I find it when I’m listening carefully to myself. There is an author by the name of Simon Sinek who says that people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. And I believe this to be true. For me, the what, the where, even the how, has changed. But the why has not. The reason why I get on a stage or why I step foot in a classroom has not changed. Figuring out that “why” is what I am listening for.” — Sarah Kay
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 08:28:57 +0000
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