There are many ways to measure success, conventional and more unconventional ones. We measure by money, status, career progression, raising children, accomplishments, prizes, works of art made.
Most of it is based on approval. We feel successful when the world approves of us.
Unfortunately, this approval can lead us to become “successful” in all the wrong domains. I know a lot of people who approve of financial success but have a hard time viewing a lazy Sunday afternoon or a series of failed experiments as “successful”.
I guess it depends on whose approval we are seeking.
For me, the question “What would 8-year-old Josefiene think of me?” has become the most reliable indicator for moving towards success.
If I stick to being myself, things turn out in a way that even my younger self would have loved.
What makes me happy has not changed all that much between then and now.
What a good, successful life feels like is also much the same.
