Recognising Success

You reach the thing you've been aiming at for years. And the next morning, the world looks exactly the same.

Not that you’re ungrateful or disappointed. It’s just a flatness that makes no sense given you got what you wanted.

I remember when I acted that the sweetest part of any job was hearing I’d got the role.

I think the meaning was never really in the summit. It was in the climbing. The striving gives the days a shape, and reaching the top takes that away. It’s too easy to forget to enjoy the view.

That's not a flaw. We're built to move towards something. Take the something away and that goal-striving engine goes quiet, even when the outcome is good.

It might be tempting to feel guilty about the flatness. You got what you wanted, so what's wrong with you? Some might immediately go looking for a bigger summit, just to get the engine running again. That might work for a while. Though it means you never get to enjoy the mountain you’ve climbed before you're planning the next expedition.

The next summit doesn't have to be further away. It can be just in front of you, a refinement of the thing you're already standing on rather than conquering another continent. Getting better at the thing rather than bigger at it. Mastery, rather than more territory. You’ve got the thing now, how do you want to make it yours?

It still keeps the engine running. It just doesn't require abandoning what you've built to get it.

What did you achieve that left you strangely flat, and where might the next summit actually be, closer than you think?

Recognising Success