What is Success for You? #TheThirdMetric

How would you define success? What does being successful mean? I know it's a broad question - and it can be answered in many different ways. Your answer may also depend on which part of your life you are in right now. A student may define success as getting into a great college or graduating. A young professional may define success as getting a corner office with a view. Each of us have our own defining moments. Even the most successful of people, I am sure, also have their own definition of success; a success which they may not necessarily have attained, however successful they may already be. 

But what if I asked you - if there's only one thing you could be successful with in life - what would that be? Among the many things that you have achieved and done - what is the one thing that would make you a failure if you did not achieve it?

My definition of success is (and has always been) to have a happy family. It did not matter whether I get to take up my MBA or not; whether I owned my house or had to rent one. It did not even matter whether I had any children - I was willing to adopt. None of those mattered - except that I knew I wanted a family that had fun together, loved each other, and will survive through thick and thin together.

When I was a young girl, the path of life was simple. I would graduate from high school and I would go to college. I would graduate from college and I would get a job. Once I had a job, I would get married - and have children. That was the end of it - nothing specific on what course, which college, what job, what guy to marry (or who), and how many children. It's like one of those drawings by little children - stick figures with no faces, a generic house in the background, and usually a car, a garden and the sun shining in the background. How was I to know that life would get really complicated? Unfortunately - life has a way of sucking you into it - and eating you alive. Ateneo or La Salle? Business or medicine? Bill or Ted? Big wedding or small wedding? Corporate job or start your own business? Accept the job transfer or stay at your current role? 1 child or 5 children? The choices go on and on - and each choice you make add on more complication to your life.

It's all up to us to go back to the basics and review again what is it that will define your success. What is it that will make you feel you've truly succeeded? Don't let the world's definition of success define your success - because you deserve your own.

The Third Metric: Redefining Success Beyond Money and Power took place on Thursday, June 6, 2012. It's a movement led by Arianna Huffington and Mika Brzenzinski about creating a more holistic, humane view of success. Read all about it here.