What is your definition of success?

Last night I trekked out to New Jersey City College to meet Arianna Huffington and hear her speak about the paperback release of her bestseller, Thrive: The Third Matric.

Gracefully, and restfully walking around the stage, I was impressed by her egalatarian presence and sincere normalcy.

She takes a progressive stand for a new definition of success beyond simply one of power & money… but a symphony of community, contribution, rest, magic, and wonder.

In the new definition of success, building and looking after our financial capital is not enough. We need to do everything we can to protect and nurture our human capital.

When we include our own well- being in our definition of success, another thing that changes is our relationship with time. There is even a term now for our stressed- out sense that there’s never enough time for what we want to do— “time famine.” And when we’re living a life of perpetual time famine, we rob ourselves of our ability to experience another key element of the Third Metric: wonder, our sense of delight in the mysteries of the universe, as well as the everyday occurrences and small miracles that fill our lives.

Obviously, I could not agree more. 

Arianna came on my radar prominently after she began practicing Transcendental Meditation from The David Lynch Foundation. As a TM practitioner, I get giddy every time a huge celebrity publicly shares their meditation practice and positions it as a foundation of their productivity and success (Oprah, Dr. Oz, Ellen DeGenerous, Jerry Seinfeld, Katy Perry, Howard Stern, and Clint Eastwood are vocal practitioners as well!).

It’s not what type of meditation per say, but recognizing that productivity and efficency comes from a centered and well-rested place. From this space we can become aware that we are not our thoughts and can begin directing our attention to what we desire (to create in our lives) rather than running from email to email and blog post to blog post.

The irony is that technology is the exact reason that I am able to work from anywhere and travel the world, running my business effectively from my laptop. But I, by no means, am available to be tied to the hip with technology. (Isn't that why we created freedom-based businesses, anyway?)

There is a genuine resurrgance and desire for true connection. This begins with our connection to ourselves. "Know thyself" and "create thyself" are the perennial iconoclastic rallying cries of the day - yet become vacant without an experiential (non-conceptual) foundation. This is what meditation provides - a turning on and tuning in - so that we may engage in the world from a place of response instead of reaction. 

We are living in a time (like no other!) where we discovering how to engage with technology in a way that truly enhances our thriving and well being. This is the interesting opportunity of the digital age: How do we use technology to our advantage - instead of it using us?

But, let’s be real. Arianna said it the best, we need a digital detox & life audit. We need to step AWAY from our phones and lean IN to life. We need to DROP what doesn’t interest or support us (or our business) on our “to do” list and "social media calendar" and create SPACE for wisdom and wonder. Because really, what is the use of these new technologies is we are not able to imbue and access them as vehicles for our own expression and contribution. 

Yet, it has never been harder to tap into our inner wisdom, because in order to do so, we have to disconnect from unending influx all our omnipresent devices— our gadgets, our screens, our social media— and reconnect with ourselves.

To support you in adding more C O N N E C T I ON and F R E E D O M to your life, check out this exercise in presence. It just might have you overhaul your epic “to do” list and begin taking more time in your life to ENJOY, PLAY, and PRODUCTIVITY. 

So, tell me: What is your definition of success? Leave me a comment below. I'd love to hear what you think. 

To YOUR continued success,

Joanna

 

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