Success Is Not About Being Number One

Tawanda Chirenda, Founder, Becoming a Willing Student, Toronto, ON

We all want to succeed. We all want to build fulfilling and thriving careers or businesses. We are all driven to live meaningful and productive lives.

But what really is success?

I have been on this entrepreneurial journey for a while and I have discovered that success is about being true to yourself, and whether or not that leads to number one is beside the point. When you are true to yourself you become more authentic, unique, credible, creative, trustworthy, and eventually more successful at what you do.

True greatness is about having the inner courage to live an authentic life every day, and standing up for your own truth even against the opinions of others. There is an audience out there waiting to embrace the real you. Authenticity always has an audience. Unfortunately, we are living in a society that forces us to deny our true selves in pursuit of something that we are not. We are all fighting to be number one. I have nothing against those who want to be number one but I am a big believer in people pursuing their goals and dreams.

As you go to bed tonight, I want you to ask yourself these questions:

1)    Am I being true to who I am?

2)    Is the life I am living a reflection of my true self?

Success is not about being number one. It’s about being the best you. If the best you leads to number one then be grateful, but if it doesn’t, that’s fine as long as you are living a productive, fulfilling and meaningful life.

In my work, I meet many successful entrepreneurs who have managed to bootstrap their start-ups and live so well off on their own, even if they do not make it to the top of tech news or the Forbes list. Our society makes us believe that successful entrepreneurs are those who raise millions of investment rounds, but I don’t buy into that. The entrepreneurs that I meet everyday did not receive funding from anybody, but have successfully built businesses and brands that fit their lifestyles and identity. To me that is success.