Before we start - this article will be a little different from my previous pieces. This time, I really want to take you on a sample of the behind-the-scenes of my thinking process. My intention is that by letting you into the cahordic nature of my mind you get not only to understand me a litter better but also to draw potent lessons with potential to elevate your life. Let's start, shall we?

Do you consider yourself a successful person? Maybe you are an entrepreneur wondering if you have a successful business? What about your career, can you genuinely say you are building a successful career?

These are some of the most daunting questions I faced every time I was doing a level-up retreat on myself. Yes, every quarter I take a couple of days to reflect, to give thanks, and to course-correct. Every single time, questions around success and it's meaning would come up.

For the longest time, I used to believe in what most mainstream systems sell us: getting a degree, finding a job, getting married, buy a house... You know how the drill goes. While I would admire such a path, it never really resonated with me. Call me a hippie, a misfit and even a rebel if you will.

This mixed feelings of wanting to live life in my own terms and being accepted by society, was by far, one of the main reasons why it would take me the longest to breakthrough in certain areas. You see, if your energy is scattered between two conflicting ideals, you will inevitably get poor results in both directions. If you are spending the majority of your energy entertaining those conflicting ideas, trying to bridge them, instead of taking massive aligned action toward your goals you would be wasting energy.

It wasn't till 7 years ago, when I started supporting entrepreneurs, professionals and fellow human-beings to breakthrough into their next level, that it hit me: "Success is whatever we define it is".

While for some entrepreneurs, "success" is having a huge business with hundreds of employees, 8-figures annual revenue and massive respect, to others it's really about building a business that allowed them to live a lifestyle they like, to have instagramable photos, and to know they are financially taken care of.

For some professionals, having a single job is out-of-this-world, they want to do so many different things, at some many different places, and have a taste of impact in multiple levels. Others, really want something that looks like a steady job, with not many deep highs and lows, and no much uncertainty - so they can live a more calm life - also associated with stability.

In the same way, someone may want to get married, have three children and a dog, and have a cosy place to call home. While for others, having biological children are definitely not a goal, the world is their home, and most things they own fit inside a backpack.

While it's totally common and I would even advise everyone to at least test it before dismissing a life, career or business decision, to most, these are pretty much their fixed dream life.

Scary memories come to my mind, about when I was growing up and people would ask me - So, what do you want to be when you grow up?

I would think: How do they want me to know for sure? How would I know what I want to do for the rest of my life? What is even possible and available to me? What if I make a choice and don't like the outcome or the process, itself? How do I press reset and is that even an option?

All the information I was getting, would only seem to add to the confusion. My peers feedback on how clear they were about what they wanted to do and my belief that I could do anything if I put in the work to make it so, would get me utterly lost, overwhelmed and confused.

It took me a minute before I gave a proper closure to such a great quest: To find the ultimate success measure. While I am happy with the answers I have, I am also happy to update it and upgrade it as needed. To me, considering that only you can determine what success looks like, it can be measured by 4 pillars:

Progress

How much of your own vision have you already accomplished? Assuming that your vision is not coming from a pace of contraction by limiting beliefs but from expansion offered by infinite possibilities.

So, one might be 35% of their vision of having the money, the fame and the impact. While others might be 75% of their vision of having a family, a house and a degree. So, how successful are you?

Legacy

What is the change we are meat to deliver here? Assuming that you accept and embrace that fact that every single one of us, is in this planet to leave a legacy behind. We are here to leave a legacy that outlives us.

Maybe legacy for you is ensuring that your future bloodline gets a better starting point than yourself - that is why you are moving locations. Perhaps your legacy is to help children in your block, your community, your street to get a better education so they can access better opportunities. Perchance you are all about positively touching hundreds upon thousands of lives all over the world. Whatever the case is, you should focus on tapping into what you were "meant" to do. At least, it is my intention that you start to build such an answer for and to yourself.

How in-tune you are with your legacy?

Comparision

Who do resonate with and who do you stand out from? Assuming you are in tune with your essence and not mimicking someone else's identity.

This is not comparing who is better than who. At this point, I hope you realized that everyone has a unique blueprint of wishes, desires and visions. Now, as a social species, we are constantly balancing out being part of a group while also, being able to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

I don't believe it is healthy to always feel an outcast or to be in the opposite extreme of feeling like just another grain a sea of sand. It's about the intersection between being authentic and resonating with your tribe. So who are those whom you identify with and who are those you don't? Base on the answer to this question, are you successful?

Feeling

What are you feeling about yourself and about your life? Assuming you allow yourself to fully experience every emotion, in the first place.

No BS, how are you really feeling? We all know those cases, where someone has resources and aren't happy while some other individual has the least and is joyful. The same way, we know people with plenty of resources and feel fulfilled and people who are lacking and feeling miserable. So you might have noticed that is not about what you do or don't have, but about what do you feel about it.

Take notice that the question is "What are you feeling" and not "How do you feel". Because two people can feel the same emotion and experience it in different ways: Some get angry and cry others get angry and scream. Yet, what are they all felling? - Anger.

I couldn't end this article without reminding you that success is 80% inner game: your mindset, your energic vibration, and your identity; and only 20% external game: strategies, target and timing.

You do control the way you show up, you do influence your outcomes and you do determine what success looks like for you. You are your own measure of success. Embrace your true power.

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Julio Maria Muhorro is an award-winning professional, mission-driven entrepreneur and a lifetime learner. He uses his 7 years' experience within management, training and research environments to enable personal, professional and business growth. Julio Maria is the founder of Sharing Knowledge International, a company guided by the purpose of enabling powerful personal transformation to drive business career and life fulfilment.