For one writer, success means having fun writing with a good cup of coffee on Saturday mornings. For another, it means selling 10,000 copies of their debut novel. For yet another, it means inking a movie or TV deal. For yet another, it means the quiet approval of just one reader.
For one podcaster, success means regularly getting 200 downloads on their weekly podcast. For another, it means being asked to speak at a conference. For another, it means gaining a new coaching client every week. For another, it simply means having a fun, fulfilling time recording with friends.
One type of success is not more important or valid than another type. If this is something you struggle with, you need to be honest with yourself about what you want out of your creative process and creative life — what is meaningful and fulfilling to you, individually, without anyone else’s input or the world’s “should”s.
To complicate it even more, our personal definitions of success will most likely change over time. You might go from a goal of selling 10,000 copies of your debut novel to a goal of selling 500,000 or even a million. You might go from a goal of 200 downloads per podcast episode to 20,000 or two million. Or you might go from all of those downloads and sales to realizing you simply want satisfaction from telling your story.
Again, none of these versions of success is any better than the next. A writer that sells 100,000 copies of their novel is not any better or worse than a writer that sells 10. A TV or movie deal is not the “be all, end all” for every creator, and we need to stop acting, culturally, as though it is.
These success stops along the creative road are simply reflections of where you are in your journey — yes, your journey, because every journey is different. And because we’re always growing and changing and learning and developing as creators, our definitions of success may move and change and grow along with us.
There is no finish line — or if there is, it’s not the same for everyone, and it moves along each individual’s creator path, always just out of reach. Which is exactly where it should be.