Are You Successful? It Depends on How You Answer These Questions

In this series, professionals describe what numbers govern their happiness. Write your own #MyMetric post here.

LinkedIn’s new marketing tagline is “success is closer than you think.” It is brilliant and true.

Is the $500,000 senior vice president job at Apple closer than you think? For 99.9999% of you, probably not. But, that isn’t success. That might be what sounds like success in a movie or cocktail party, but it isn’t what actually makes us feel successful.

You can be successful today. Not metaphorically, but literally. And it doesn’t require you to change jobs or get permission from anyone other than yourself.

How successful are you right now? Answer these three questions and find out.

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how meaningful are your relationships at work?
2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much impact do you make in your work?
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much are you growing in your job?

If you scored an 8 or higher in ALL three — you are a success. CONGRATS.

If you scored lower than on a 8 any of them, you have work to do. Let’s dig in.

THE NEW SUCCESS

In our research of the U.S. workforce, we have come to understand that one’s level of purpose at work is comprised of three sources of fulfillment. We gain meaning from (1) relationships, (2) making an impact and (3) personal growth.

We must let go of the “climb the ladder” model of success and replace it with a research-driven model to what will truly make us feel successful. It begins with asking yourself the three questions in the diagram below.

THE THREE SOURCES OF PURPOSE

To have a high level of fulfillment, people want to feel their work makes an impact  —  whether for their client, peers, company, or society as a whole. They want to be challenged and try new things. They want to connect with others and have real relationships.

Relationships

Maximizing meaning through relationships often means finding new ways to think about existing relationships. When we see colleagues or clients as people who we really want to help, those connections become more significant.

When it comes to purpose, relationships matter more than anything else. They reinforce our sense of value, require us to engage, and ultimately help us grow. To maximize purpose in your work you need to invest in relationships.

We get purpose from relationships with our colleagues, partners, clients, and the other people who we engage every day in our work. These relationships are the most purposeful when they combine the other two sources of purpose — doing something greater than yourself (e.g. helping someone) or growing as a person (e.g. be stretched by someone).

What are different approaches that could help you build the relationships that matter to you within or outside the organization?

Impact

We experience purpose when we know we have done something that we believe matters — to others, to society, or to ourselves. You don’t need to volunteer or have a career in education or social work to find your work rich in this form of purpose. We can discover meaning through small moments in our daily work.

Making an impact by contributing to something greater than yourself is what most people think of when they think about purpose. We experience purpose when we know we have done something that we believe matters — to others, to society, and to ourselves. From the small and mundane daily choices we make to systemic and historic impact, we strive to contribute to the well-being of the world around us.

You don’t need to volunteer or have a career in education or social work to find your work rich in this form of purpose. We can discover meaning through our daily work, where we help the people on our teams and provide customers with products and services that make their days brighter and easier.

Not everyone generates impact purpose from the same things. You can use your purpose pattern to understand how to tailor your work to make the impact that will be most meaningful for you.

How can you frame the goals for your position to align with what drives purpose for you? For example, if you find the most purpose in helping individuals, you can you frame your role around making an impact for those people. If you are driven by the gain and dispersion of knowledge, you can make research and learning the core of your approach. Imperative helps you learn about the impact you’d like to see in your work through our Purpose Assessment (click to take it, it’s free and it’s fun!).

Growth

Personal and professional growth are not tied to job promotions or climbing the corporate ladder. People grow in different ways: some by engaging in things that scare them, others from learning new things. It is critical to look for opportunities that will maximize how you uniquely want to grow.

We find purpose when we do things we love, attempt new challenges, and express our voice to the world.  Our own personal growth provides a deep sense of purpose. Like a shark we need to constantly be moving forward or we don’t feel alive.

People grow in different ways. Some people strive to master a task like a professional athlete or musician. Some people grow by engaging in things that scare them. Some people grow by constantly trying new things. Some gain the most purpose from acquiring new knowledge. It is critical to become aware of how you grow and to tailor your work to ensure you are constantly gaining purpose from personal growth.

What form of growth is most important to you right now? Is it growth in building a network or gaining knowledge? Is it about overcoming fears or trying something new? Is it about mastering a skill? Articulating answers to these questions helps ensure that you learn and grow the way that uniquely matters to you in your job.

HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO

And the great thing is that in our Workforce Purpose Index study as well as in our research at companies like LinkedIn, we found that people who work with purpose are more likely be high performers and leaders. So focusing on purpose might just make you closer to that job at Apple than you think.

Aaron Hurst is the CEO of Imperative, founder of the Taproot Foundation, and author of The Purpose Economy.  He has written for or been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg TV, Fortune and Fast Company.

More posts on this topic:

• “Success Is a Moving Target. Here’s How I Know When I’ve Hit the Mark.” — Suze Orman, television host, author, motivational speaker, producer
• “My Metric for Success? Happiness” — Richard Branson, Founder at Virgin Group
• “Exit Interviews Reveal What Your Employees Really Think. Are You Ready?” — Shane Atchison, CEO at Possible
• “My Metric for Success? It’s All About Impact” — Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and Co-founder of Ellevest
• “I Thought I Was Short on Time; Now I'm Long on Meaning” — Maynard Webb, Chairman, Yahoo!; Former COO, eBay
• “Maybe Woody Allen Was Right — 80% of Success Is Just Showing Up” — Whitney Johnson, thinker, author, speaker, advisor, coach
• “My Metric for Success: Earn Customers for Life” — Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors Company