Eric Vonheim dives into the essence of success, a topic both personal and universally intriguing. Eric and his polled guests explore the varied perceptions of success, ranging from material achievements to personal contentment. Through engaging conversations and insights shared by followers, the show unveils that success is not one-size-fits-all. Listeners are encouraged to reflect on what success means to them, whether it's financial freedom, self-love, or making a difference in others' lives. This podcast offers a wealth of perspectives, making it a must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the true meaning of success and how it can be uniquely defined and achieved. With its blend of personal anecdotes, listener contributions, and thoughtful analysis, Eric Vonheim inspires his audience to redefine success on their own terms and strive for what truly matters to them.

Eric:

It's time to get it, and you know how we get it. Americanooooooo, the podcast about all things business and personal growth with your host Eric Vonheim.

Today I would like to talk about what is the definition of success. This is something that myself and other individuals I've had conversation with have often debated and bounced ideas back and forth around as it pertains to, well, what is it and what does it mean? Is it the same for everybody? I feel that the general consensus and all the discussions I've had and everything I've read is that it varies greatly from individual to individual, meaning that some people view success as maybe having a Lamborghini in the driveway, whereas others view success as just waking up each day. As you can imagine, there's really a wide spectrum as to what success means.

Something I did recently when I was asking myself this question and really trying to peel this onion back and get closer to the meaning for myself personally is I took a poll with my followers on Instagram. I wanted to share with you what that feedback looked like and talk about some of the points from this particular audience. First and foremost, if you participated, I want to say thank you. I greatly appreciate it.

The first one came from Brendan and he said, "Finding value in what you spend your most precious resource doing, your time." I thought, absolutely. Time is the most precious resource that we have. Whether you're rich or you're poor, we all have 24 hours in the day, and how we choose to spend our time significantly matters and affects the outcome in the various ways in life. For example, if we were to simply sit on the couch, maybe that sounds comfortable, and watch Netflix all day, we probably are not going to accomplish much in the ways of maybe some financial goals that we have or maybe weight goals, because obviously sitting down and munching away on snacks and stuff is probably not good for our waistline. But if we were to maximize our time and think about time as a precious resource and how we want to use each day, putting some thought into it, meaning, hey, at this time I want to do X and at that time I want to do X, we'd probably get better results because at the end of the day, time is something that's forever disappearing.

We're all on borrowed time, unfortunately, and life is really good at using our time for us if we don't protect it and use it how we want to do it. I thought that was a great response. Thank you, Brendan.

The next one came in from Susan, and Susan simply said, "Loving yourself." Her definition of success is just simply loving yourself. I think that's very powerful as well, because a lot of us struggle sometimes with our own life and how we are performing or the goals and the accomplishments, and a lot of times we might even compare ourselves to others, and so we kind of beat ourselves up. I really liked the idea of loving ourself and being okay in our own skin, and I thought that was great. Thank you, Susan.

The next person, Viv, said, "Being proud of the choices and actions I make every day by leaving my comfort zone." I really like that. Two things stand out in this. One is being proud of yourself and your own personal choices, meaning being accountable to your own set of standards and not somebody else's. That's number one. The second thing is leaving my comfort zone. This is very difficult for most individuals because we're all so resistant to change more often than not, and we find ourselves in these routines day in and day out, these comfort zones, if you wish to use that term. These comfort zones can sometimes work against us. Yes, it feels nice, it feels safe, it feels familiar, but at the end of the day, are we growing? Are we making progress? I love the idea that this interpretation of success is also getting out of that comfort zone and therefore experiencing some growth.

The next one came from Kenny. Kenny said, "Making a comfortable living by doing your passion." Absolutely. If you can couple passion with some monetary gain, that's the sweet spot. I often speak with my students when I'm teaching at the college around this idea because we're trying to explore as entrepreneurs like, well, what do you want to do and what are you good at? One of the questions I often ask my students is, "What would you do if you were not being paid for it?" That's a great indicator of something you really love because you're doing it because you love it, not because of what you're getting from it in terms of money. If you can couple those as an adult, your passion with some financial aspect, well, that's a total win. Thank you, Kenny.

The next one came from Tiffany. Tiffany said, "An accomplishment that is set by your own measure or goal." I love this as well, meaning it's your decision. You're kind of setting the mark. You're saying, listen, if I, for example, run 200 meters and I make it without falling over, success. If I get up today and I get through X, Y, & Z, success. I like this because it's the individual making the decision as to what are those markers of success. As long as you meet those, you're measuring yourself against your own goals of accomplishment. Thank you Tiffany for that.

The next one came from Melissa and she said, "To look in the mirror and be proud of yourself." Oh, I love this. This just kind of goes right back to what Susan was talking about, which is this idea of loving yourself. Being proud of yourself, and being comfortable in your own skin and being your best cheerleader that you can be is so important. We all look and crave for confidence.

Confidence is something that a lot of us struggle with, and so we have to be willing to A, love ourselves, B, comfortable in our own skin, and C, be willing to say, "Hey, you're doing okay, and maybe you don't have everything figured out in life, but you're working through it and you're going to keep chipping away at this until you figure it out." At the end of the day, we're all a work in progress. I really like this, and so thank you, Melissa.

The next one came from Roberto and he said, "By also being able to help others be successful in sharing the knowledge." A+. Sharing is caring. I mean, this kind of speaks to me personally. I just love giving value, adding value, sharing what I know, and yet it's so rewarding and it really costs nothing, and it gives so much back in return. I really like this idea that success is not just about self, but it's also about being able to help others be successful, and in turn, you will feel success. I love that. Thank you, Roberto.

The next one came from Alexis and she said, "Freedom of time, money, relationships, and purpose." It's like the perfect trifecta. Time, money and relationships. I love this as well. I mean, obviously we've spoken about time. Time is precious. It's something that money can't buy, quite frankly, and we're all on borrowed time, and so we really need to make the most of our time. The second thing is money. Money is often attributed to success. We think success and money, there's a relationship between the two. Yes, money is important. Money provides us with things, it provides us with opportunities. It also gives us things to pay for things. We need that. It is important. But at the end of the day, you reach a certain point with money and it loses its utility factor, and at some point it's just paper.

What's most fulfilling is that you get to a place where you have enough money that you're able to do the things that you love in life, and you have some security and some, what they would call financial freedom. Obviously we could spend a lot of time on finances and the do's and the don'ts, but obviously it does have a role to play in success, but really to the extent that what it could do for you in terms of giving you more time to spend on things that you love or with the people that you love. I really enjoyed this. Thank you, Alexis.

The next one came from Steve, and he said, "Time is priceless. Financial freedom along with generational wealth." Again, we go right back to time being very important. Number two, financial freedom, which we just talked about and this idea of generational wealth. This idea that, for example, if you have a family, being able to create something not only for yourself, but being able to pass that on to the next generation, your children or their children. A lot of times when we think about success from an individual perspective, we may not be thinking long-term because we're just thinking about, "Okay, what can I do with this?" Or, "If I earn a certain amount of money, what can I buy with this for myself?" But at the end of the day, if we have family or friends or charitable organizations we care about, it's not just about ourself, it's also about what we can do with those rewards that we've earned through life and being able to pass those down. Absolutely love this. Thank you, Steve.

The next one came from Fausto, and he said, "Success to me is a well-oiled machine." Interesting. Really it's about process. It's about having systems and routines and rhythm, which are equally important because this kind of speaks to being disciplined in what we do. For me, it really kind of goes back to being careful with how we spend our time and where we spend it. Thank you, Fausto.

The next one comes from Susan, and she said, "Being content in the present moment is my success." Love it. This is something that I think many of us, myself included, maybe struggle with and are maybe trying to do a better job at, which is being present because a lot of times we're already thinking about tomorrow, next week and the month and months ahead. This idea of being present really is key, and I think it also is a big success factor to enjoying life itself. Thank you, Susan.

The next one comes from Mimi, and she said, "Success is being happy and not letting anything upset you." Love it. Something that stands out to me when I read something like this is that we can't control others, but we can control our response to others. This idea of not letting things upset us, whether that be another individual or things in our environment is so critical. Yes, I would absolutely agree that is definitely something that would be considered success. Thank you, Mimi.

Then the last one was from Santa Ana Aztecs' account, and they said, "Success to me means service to others. Giving is key, whether it's time, money, or words." Love this. Again, this idea of giving is fantastic and being in service to other people. There's something so powerful about using our time to help others. Now, obviously our time is limited, so we have to be selective at where we spend that time. But if we can find the right audience, meaning the right person or group of people that are receptive to what we have to share and willing to learn and benefit from that knowledge, it's going to make us feel so good and it's going to be so beneficial to them. Thank you so much for that feedback.

Now, taking all of those great comments into consideration, and when I kind of, again, peel the onion back and thinking about myself and what does the definition mean for me on a personal level, what I came up with is that success is the ability to do what you love. Success is the ability to do what you love because at the end of the day, if it's for example, making money, why are we wanting to make that money? Well, maybe we just like having stacks of cash, but at the end of the day, we're wanting to make that money so we can do things that we love or we're wanting to make that money so maybe we have free time to do the things that we love. But put the money aside.

When I think about success on a personal level, I'm always reminded to all the times I've had in life that have not been associated with money that have brought me a lot of joy. Most of those are associated with doing things I love, which could be spending time with a loved one, friends and family, or maybe going out for a run or going for a mountain bike ride or going skiing or snowboarding or taking a little trip, working on a project. It could be learning something new, for example. That brings a lot of joy and what I perceive to be success.

Having that, it's really a luxury to have that time to focus on the things that you're most passionate about. Hopefully what you've taken away from this conversation today is that it's okay to have a different definition of success than somebody else in that we don't have to worry ourselves about success in the form of, oh, I saw somebody on Instagram and they have this, this, and this, and I don't, therefore I'm not successful. I think that's a very misguided interpretation or perception, if you will, about what success is.

I think at the same time, while maybe we have desires and aspirations and goals to have certain things in life or to get to certain places, I think it's important for us to celebrate the wins along the way. The journey is greater than the destination. Also, when we look to others that are having what we perceive to be some success, maybe in financial monetary aspects or having certain things or a way of life, let's celebrate them because they've probably been on that journey for a long time themselves. Let's celebrate their success, and let's be thankful for where we're at in the process. Let's just keep chipping away and getting closer to our own definition. That's really, I think, about the best approach that we can take. With that said, if you have a different definition of success or like to weigh in, please feel free to reach out to me. I'd still love to keep this conversation going, but in the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful day and we'll talk again soon. Thank you.