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How do you define success? What drives you to do what you do?
In a world that often equates success with productivity, wealth, and societal approval, many of us find ourselves out of alignment with this message we are told we should be striving for.
I no longer want to be ruled by the ‘shoulds’. I want out…but it’s hard. It feels like it’s in my pores – the need to make good money, to always use my time wisely, and to live in a picture-perfect home.
Isn’t that what I’ve been unconsciously, mindlessly consuming and seeing?
I want to get off the hamster wheel and I know a lot of you do too.
I may not have all the answers, but maybe we could start by surrounding ourselves with a community of like-minded individuals abandoning the “shoulds” and redefining what success means.
I did a call-out to to see who in our community are writing about this topic:
The response was incredible!! I was blown away by the fantastic writers. I am going to do a Part 2 for book recommendation on this topic at some point, but in the meantime there’s plenty of amazing pieces to keep you busy!
Thank you to the writers who wanted to contribute to this topic, please grab a nice hot drink and enjoy:
Being Human by
’s Substack
Earning money (on Substack) without burning out... by
(Claire is going to take the paywall off this one soon! So come back)It’s live!How I got out of a career rut & found the confidence to take a leap of faith by
From overwhelm and burnout to finding laughter and lounging on a Sunday by
Michelle Teheux’s Substack Untrickled
On Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Hustle Culture, and Where it All Went Off the Rails Yesterday by
Doubt your own doubts : Reflections on blogging insecurities by
A Word From A Personal Finance Writer Struggling With Finances by
’s Substack Idiomatic
’s Substack Creativity Under Capitalism
Jumping Through Chaos: How Super Mario Rescued Motivation & Taught Me To Let Go by
The traps of hyper-productivity, green juice and 5am workouts by
Thank you again for all the contributions.
If you want to contribute to this topic, please add your links in the comments so we can check out your writing.
I’m looking forward to being on this journey with you, here’s to reimagining what success truly means.
If you’ve found my writing helpful, and you’re in a position to do so, here is the link to upgrade (currently NZ$55 a year (as of today US$34/£27)). If you are unable to, or are happy to stay on the free subscription, that is totally ok with me too! I’m just glad you’re in our supportive community.
If you like this, you might enjoy:
Bookmarking this for some future reading! I love that we're all marinating on this topic.
Here's a piece I wrote recently that is just the beginning of rethinking my own relationship to success and perhaps my life (and those around me) towards more collective care and community: https://stephpf.substack.com/p/actually-i-dont-want-to-work
If anyone wants to connect over reimagining all of this, I'd love to cultivate a little group of us. Thank you so much, Mika, for putting all of this together and articulating your own thoughts so well.
"In a world that often equates success with productivity, wealth, and societal approval, many of us find ourselves out of alignment with this message we are told we should be striving for."
OMG So perfectly defined. This beautifully succinct and collated post is going to keep me very busy today. Thank you 🙏