If the dream drains you, it might not be your dream.
You’ve checked the boxes. Hit the goals. Pushed hard.
And yet—there’s a quiet ache that says: This isn’t it.
That’s not failure. That’s feedback.
Most of us inherited a definition of success based on approval, productivity, or external validation.
But what if success isn’t something you prove…
It’s something you live?
Redefining success means choosing alignment over applause.
It means letting go of what looks good from the outside to build what feels good on the inside.
It’s not shrinking your ambition—it’s anchoring it to your values, not someone else’s ladder.
Mini Scenario:
You reached a big milestone. Everyone’s clapping.
But in the back of your mind, you’re already asking:
“What now?”
The high faded fast.
You don’t feel successful—you feel spent.
Because what you’ve built is impressive… but it’s not aligned.
You traded authenticity for achievement—and now it’s time to come home to yourself.
Redefinition Prompts:
- What version of success did I inherit—and what has it cost me?
- What does enough feel like to me?
- What values do I want my success to protect?
- If no one else could see my life, what would I build differently?
- Where am I performing success instead of living it?
Aligned Action Invitations:
- Choose one value you want to protect this week. Build a small decision around it.
- Identify one performance behavior (overworking, overexplaining, overgiving) and pause it for one day.
- Write your new definition of success in one sentence. Make it visible.
