In this fast-paced world, it’s easy to get sucked into a routine, act like victims or waste time pining for what we don’t have.

Far too often we forget to pause and take a moment to appreciate all that we have.

Many thanks to my friend Alex for this beautiful reminder.

I recently finished reading Delivering Happiness written by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.

Now, I can’t stop talking about it, especially because I feel like the Universe is continuously reminding me of the book.

Exhibit A| I have a newborn baby so I’m more than behind on reading through my favorite blogs on my Google Reader. However, earlier this month I was compelled to click on Amy’s blog and low and behold she had written about the science of happiness. Thanks to Tony (apparently a friend of hers) she’s intrigued by the study of positive psychology. If you’re still reading this and remotely interested, be sure to check out this video she posted.

Exhibit B | A few weeks after reading this post, Baochi Nguyen (one of my favorite bloggers) posts on Facebook that she’s hosting a webinar via RingCentral featuring none other than Tony Hsieh. HELLO! I somehow managed to listen to the entire podcast while simultaneously wrangling my two children and making myself presentable for the day. If you missed the webinar, you can listen to it here.

Exhibit C | My sister-in-law is launching her own business, and I’ve been busy these last few weeks helping her build her company’s website. Last night over dinner we started talking about social media (Twitter specifically) and I mentioned that I’d  just won my latest favorite book via Twitter. “Which one?” she asked. And just as I started on my tangent on why Delivering Happiness is such a great read she says, “My business coach just recommended that book!”

Sister, now that I’m getting a copy, I’ll make sure you read it. 

As Marianne Williamson said in A Woman’s Worth, 

A career grows out of who we are; who we are doesn’t grow out of a career.”

Whether you’re an entrepreneur or trying to find your calling in life, I recommend you read this book. It will inspire you and force you to not only identify your values, but more importantly determine if your personal values align with those of the company you’re building or working for. The questions aren’t easy, but if you have an answer, you’re more than on your way to carving out your own happy path in life.

1. Are you working toward maximizing your happiness each day?
2. What are your values?
3. What are you passionate about?
4. What inspires you?
5. What is your goal in life?
6. What is your higher purpose?

Every person took a different path to get here, but our paths managed to intersect.” – Tony Hsieh

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• Zappos is delivering happiness through time travel experiments

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I’ve been wanting to write about this since I read Fat Mum Slim‘s take on the subject in late March. Since then, the definition of success has come up quite frequently in random conversations and even in a portion of the book I’m currently reading. I took these as signs to take a heartfelt look at my life and how I would define the word.

I loved Fat Mum Slim’s definition:

“It’s laughing with my husband and getting butterflies when he comes home from work. It’s having a healthy daughter who is happy and loves me back.”

Much like all other mommy guilt (self-inflicted), I find that defending or defining why some of us do what we do is always challenging – because of the judgment we feel from other parents and the guilt we impose on ourselves. And because of that, our definitions of success will vary greatly. There is no right or wrong answer. 

As I prepare for baby #2 and continuously strive to strike a balance between my professional life and personal life, the definition of success has been weighing heavily on my mind. I’m just wrapping up the first chapter of Eat, Pray, Love. The author is struggling with her decision to leave a marriage, not have children and still feel like she fits into society.

“First you are a child, then you are a teenager, then you are a young married person, then you are a parent, they you are retired, then you are a grandparent – at every stage you know who you are, you know what your duty is and you know where to sit at the reunion.”

But what if you don’t “fit in”? What if you never have kids? Have a high-paying job? Get married?  How do you measure your “success”?

I genuinely love what I do professionally, and I know that in order for me to be a good parent, I need to work. I need that balance. This doesn’t mean I don’t miss my daughter or have days where I feel overwhelming guilt. But for now, it’s the right balance for me. 

I envy my parent friends who only work a few days a week – “They have the best of both worlds!” I often think. Similarly, I admire my friends whose full-time job is being a parent. That has to be the toughest job in the world.

S

uccess for me means having a healthy family; love and peace in my home; learning to love myself completely and raising happy kids.

How do you define success?

Related articles

• Better Way to Measure Success (inc.com)
• {Question} Can women have it all? (sherara.com)