Episode 157: How to Define YOUR Success, with Matthew Turner

Mar 28, 2023

If you’re only subscribing to someone else’s version of success, it’s not going to make you happy because it’s not your version; you never really wanted it. We have to take time on the front end to figure out what that success means to us. ~ Matthew Turner

How do you define success? For most of us, the word “success” is tied to professional recognition, money and some level of prestige. But do those things truly bring happiness? And what is the cost of achieving them?

Author Matthew Turner explores those questions in his latest book, Beyond the Pale, in which his protagonist achieves society’s version of success, only to find he never truly wanted it. In this fictional account, Ferdinand fulfills the expectations of what he was told was success, only to discover that success means something entirely different to him personally. 

According to Matthew, personal success means different things to different people–one size doesn’t fit all. The way to discover what success means to each of us begins with focusing on the one thing we truly own–our values, and moving forward from there. 

Here at Brilliantly Resilient, we believe that defining personal values is the first step to accessing resilience and rising after challenges. When we act based on what is genuinely important to us, we follow our true path and open the door to opportunities that resonate with us–helping us to define our own versions of success, and allowing our brilliance to shine. It’s not always easy to change; as Matthew reminds us, Whenever you have an awakening, it’s almost always easier to roll over and stay asleep, but it is worth it.

Take time to decide what success means to YOU, and jettison the guilt you may feel at abandoning a path that may not lead you to where you really want to be. Tune in to hear more from Matthew on this episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast, and be sure to listen for these additional bits of Brilliance:

• Whenever you have an awakening, it’s almost always easier to roll over and stay asleep.

• How dare you have the audacity to change your mind? We put a lot of guilt into changing our minds.

• We spend too little time focusing on our individual values and principals. If you don’t have values, what do you own? They are your version of doing the right thing.

• We spend too little time focusing on our individual values and principals. If you don’t have values, what do you own? They are your version of doing the right thing.

• Replace success with meaning and purpose and recognize that success is malleable.

• Really successful people define success on their own terms. They deconstruct society’s idea of success and create their own.

Let’s be Brilliantly Resilient together!

XO, 

Kristin and Mary Fran