Measures of Success - The Problem

So after having multiple conversations over the past few days regarding success I am convinced that this is a great conversation that needs to continue for me. There are people that don't want to have any measure of success. They are happy to show up and let life happen around them. I'll tell you, I want my doctor to have measures of success. Like a zero death rate. I want the people that cook my food to have a measure of success. Like no hospitalizations. I want people to measure success and I bet you do too.

I'm not sure exactly why people shy away from defining success because I'm not one of them. I know that when you put some kind of goal out there that you can measure it can become scary because you might not reach it. And we are a culture that deifies those that reach high levels of success and we marginalize those that don't.

I really don't think there is a good argument in most areas of life not to have some kind of idea, however vague, of what success looks like. But I do understand the fear of setting yourself up for failure.

On the other hand I have seen people so driven by achieving their success that they leave a wake of relational destruction that makes any achievement of goals hollow and empty. How many broken lives have we seen and how many times have we heard the stories of people at the top losing it all, their family, their friends, their health.

So the problem to me is where do you find the balance and how do you actually define success? What does it look like in your family? In your finances? In your friendships? In your career?

I think this might be the key... Not how others have defined success. How do you define it?

The Measures of Success (Introduction)

I've had a handful of conversations recently that have got me thinking about success and the measures of success. A friend of mine and I were discussing the different values of orchestral music vs. rock. In the minds of most people under 35 rock music is way better than orchestral music. If orchestral music is going to have success in this demographic they will have to do some things differently.

We can all point to people or companies that have success in whatever field we are in. Whether it's someone in your company, organizations that just seem to hit the ball out of the park every time they do something, artists that aren't nearly as good as you that are catching all the breaks.

I'm going to take a few posts and process some of these different measures of success. Let's face it, how we determine our success will greatly impact our lives. If we don't have any measure at all we are probably missing out on opportunities that would bring a lot of fulfillment to our lives. If we measure our success in ways that are unachievable or are based on someone else's success we are going to be miserable because we will never measure up.

Where do you fall? How do you measure success?

Small Improvements

Whether you are an artist, a business person or whatever you will always have opportunities to make small improvements. Today I had the opportunity to give the message at our church. I speak in different environments all the time but this was the first time in our larger Sanctuary to a larger group of people. Each time I've had these opportunities I have tried to address one or two things to improve on, when I speak, when I play music, when I write.

What can you do to make small improvements in your art? In your business? In your whatever?

This requires some kind of assessment of what your weaknesses are, what changes to make and the ability to try those changes out.

I'm not a great speaker by any stretch but over the last couple of years I think I've gotten better. Imagine if I, if we, made small improvements over a long period of time.

Small Improvements + Time = Big Time Improvements

What's Your Response?

So in Nehemiah, just three paragraphs after the haters show up, we see that the work has continued until they got the wall to half its height. Why? Because the people worked with all their heart. It's amazing what can be accomplished when people work with their heart.

So let's hold hands again and... nope here come the haters again. And they are angry. Now they are plotting. Now they are really stirring up trouble.

There might be a few different kinds of haters. There are certainly the snipers. They just fire off from a distance. But this group of haters in Nehemiah are getting more involved. They are moving closer.

What was Nehemiah and the people's response? "But we prayed to God". That is always a great thing to do. But this is why I wrote this post today. "But we prayed to God AND posted a guard day and night." (emphasis mine)

Many times we just want to pray things away. I tend to think that we put some of our responsibilities on God. Don't get me wrong, God is involved and working and has our best interests (not necessarily our wants) in mind. And there are some things that only God can do. But we have a responsibility as well. And sometimes those responsibilities will cost. Now they are building a wall and pulling guard duty. This is starting to get more difficult.

Should we pray? Yes. Should we post guards day and night? Yes!

So what is your response? Is everything up to God or will you do the work required as well?

Mind Space

So this is part 2 of a 3 part thought on creativity. To be honest, this is the one that I probably have the most trouble with. Something you should know about me is that I am part Artist and part Administrator. This is a paradox I am still struggling to come to grips with. That said, part of my problem in this area is that I need a system to capture ideas and sort them and be able to come back to them later. Unfortunately I haven't worked it out completely. But one thing that has really worked for me is a journal devoted completely to artistic ideas and whimsy.

A journal is a great thing. It becomes the bucket that holds all the creative thoughts that ooze out of the cosmos of the mind into one place. I highly recommend the black and white composition books. The important thing is that they have a string binding and not glue. I will be very adamant about this. The string is important.

So how do you capture the ideas once you have them?

Nehemiah - It Doesn't Take Long for the Haters

So Nehemiah has done this incredibly insane thing and set out to rebuild the walls. He actually recruited people and they were next to him and he was next to them. Now let's all hold hands and sing nice happy songs together. Oh wait a minute. Here come the haters.

There were a group of people not so interested in this sense of community and accomplishment. And it doesn't take them long to give voice to their sneers and throw their judgments like Molotov Cocktails. "What are they doing? Will they restore? Are they going to finish in a day?" Blah Blah Blah.

There will always be haters. They will always speak. Loudly. They will speak to others about you. They will speak to others about your work. They will condemn, criticize and corrupt the things you are trying to do.

Screw the haters.

White Space

So every once in a while I try to clear my mind. I mean really clear it. It's amazing how long 5 minutes seems when you are just trying to be still. I literally can't seem to do it. So if a creative idea or epiphany is going to register it has to come crashing in. It literally has to crash into every random thought already firing and dismantle my synapses and realign them snapping and crackling with this great new vision that must be seen or heard.

This doesn't happen as often as I would like. And sometimes it hurts because it happens at 4am and then you have to do something with it right then or lose it forever.

So I have to find some ways to create White Space. I have to do some dismantling on my own. When I know I need some creative thinking time there are a few things I try in order to prepare myself for a slightly less violent means of creation. Here are a couple...

1. Plan ahead - Plan ahead for creative inspiration? Blasphemy! Not really. If I know I'm having a hard time getting the White Space I need I look at the calendar, choose a day that I can spend some time and I prepare for it.

2. Turn off the media - I will take a few days and not listen to anything. No podcasts, no radio, no tv (well not much). I find after a couple of days of this media fast the random flutter of thoughts are processed until my brain finally shuts up.

3. Embrace the White - Sometimes this is the hardest part for me. To give myself permission to stare at the wall.... And do nothing.... To wait.... To wait some more.... To stare at the wall....

And then the warm glow. The fuzzy feeling that slowly comes into focus. The connection of unlike things that now make perfect sense. The epiphany that can be held and processed and shaped into the next creative piece that you jettison into the world.

These are just a couple of ideas. I would love to hear what you do with the White Space.