Success Defined

Have you ever worked at something for a long time and then suddenly you feel like you didn’t make the progress you expected? It’s not that you didn’t meet your goals or didn’t succeed, it’s that you had unacknowledged expectations of where you thought you would be at a certain point.

That feeling is the pressure we put on ourselves! Recently I had an encounter that helped me see that not only am I experiencing success at my goals in all the ways that I wanted to, but that I was being hard on myself for no reason! I was diligently working, but constantly pressuring myself that I could have done better and it was killing the joy of my successes!

What changed my perspective was validation from someone I respect greatly and who is very successful in their own right. Having someone like that say that my work was good enough.  Reminded me that things are working out exactly as they should. Sometimes it takes an outside opinion from someone else in your industry to tell you that you’re nailing it! But it doesn’t have to.  You can do this for yourself.

Being an independent artist can be a true adventure, and sometimes it’s really helpful to hear from someone with more experience that you are checking all your boxes. Here’s the thing though, I had been so down on myself. For NO REASON. I could’ve acknowledged my growth on my own; with some perspective.

So what I really want you to take away from this is that we can be our own worst critic. It’s okay to know when you can do better. However, arguing with yourself when you’re doing the best you can is pointless. As Maya Angelou said, “When you know better, do better.” and that’s all we can ask of ourselves. So if you’re working on your goals daily, and you’re seeing progress, even small progress, give yourself some credit! You deserve it.