This month, I had the pleasure speaking on a panel with, and in front of, other like-minded individuals on the topic of success. The discussion of success is one that I am always excited to take part in as it interests me how others define it, especially those in other fields and stages in their careers.
The @Work: Style Your Success event in Philly was one of several success-oriented panel discussions that took place around the country, hosted by the great brands LinkedIn, J.Crew and WeWork. They came together to amplify the conversation around what success is and to empower those who are out there hustling to reach their own success and go beyond it. In the discussion, I, along with my fellow, inspiring panelists talked about what success means to us and what we are “In It For,” because what we always have to remember is that we as a community are #InItTogether.
At the event, I was not only able to share my story, I was able to listen to others and hear what they wanted to contribute to the conversation. I walked away from the event having a whole new outlook on how to view success and how to improve myself as a person and further push through in my ventures. And of course, I am not going to keep all of this to myself. I’m here to share with you the big takeaways from the event and open the discussion to you.
SHOP MY OUTFIT:
{{Photos by Dan Lidon}}
Topic #1 – Define What Success Is to You
I was joined by two very inspirational men who are their own bosses. And though we all work in different fields, it seems that we all shared a similarity in what success means to us. But we each had a different goal that we wanted to reach, and how we sought to achieve our goal was fairly different.
Many of us aim to inspire – even if it is simply inspiring one person. And though there are quite a few people out there who feel that they aren’t successful unless they are making mounds of money, most of us come to the conclusion that success also brings us to our happy place and it affects the people around us – friends, family, community…
LinkedIn recently found that the majority of professionals (87%) say success isn’t just about what you accomplish in your life, it’s about what you inspire others to do.
When listening to the two other panelists, and then also talking with the entrepreneurs who attended the panel, I learned that while we are all out there working to reach our own success and walking different roads, every so often those roads come very close together and can sometimes intertwine — because our definitions of success do cross over from person to person, and we are really all #InItTogether.
Topic #2 – The Side Hustle
I am firm believer that the phrase “you can’t have everything” is false. What I do believe is that you can have everything you want, you just have to maintain the will to work very hard for it.
At the end of the panel, a conversation emerged about burnout and failure. And though many people, like myself, don’t like to admit that they have once burned out or have met failure, it happens. The beauty in those situations is how we deal with it.
If you’re a person who is working that “side hustle” or you are starting off in your own ventures, you may reach a point where you are asking yourself: “Is this all really worth it?” The answer is yes. When we start off on these ventures, we start off with a purpose. And that purpose is what motivates us. So when you are reaching that point where you feel like you’re burned out and your failures are just coming up too often, take a minute and look back at those failures, learn from them and then combat that burnout by motivating yourself with the reason as to why you started off on this path in the first place.
We all have our own stories. And they are worth being heard. Now, it’s your turn to join the discussion. What does success mean to you? Share your story on social media using the hashtags – #StyleYourSucess and #InItTogether.
Thank you to LinkedIn for sponsoring this post.
