What does success look like? What does it feel like? What looks like success to me might look like failure to someone else. What do you consider success? Money in the bank, the car you drive, the time spent with family, your vacations, or maybe how far you get in your career? What does success look like for you?

Whatever your definition of success is, it’s definitely different than another person’s. And how does it look different for you if you’re nearing or at retirement compared to when you were just starting out?

Looking up success on Google brings you to a lot of career articles. LinkedIn, Forbes, Entrepreneurs, and even Classy Career Girl all have career success articles. But is that all that success is? A career? Career goals? Money goals?

No. Dictionary.com defines success as “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.” It doesn’t indicate what the goal is, just that you accomplished it.

Inc.com defines success as being happy. I like that. Either you’re happy in whatever you do in life or you’re not happy. If you’re not happy, then can you truly say you are successful, no matter how much money you are making? It’s why there are so many stories of people who gave up their corporate life to work for themselves, start a charity, travel the world, etc.

How Can You Define Success for Yourself?

If you’re not sure what success looks like for you or if you’re questioning what you’ve already “defined” as success in your life and feel a need to search some more, then check out the below exercises. There are many ways and paths to explore what you want to do with your life. The below exercises are just two examples of how you can explore your goals to success.

The first is from one of my blog posts, What Do You Want Your Epitaph To Say? It’s an exercise in looking at the end of your life and what you want to be remembered for accomplishing.

The other is one I’ve seen from different bloggers. It’s called Your Perfect Day. The point here is the write in detail about your perfect day. Where are you? Who are you with? What are you doing? Start in the morning, as you get up, and follow yourself through the day.

For both exercises, find a quiet place and bring a journal. Take a few breaths before each exercise and really think about your answer before you start writing. When you’re done, you should have a better idea of what you want to do.

Now What?

Now that you have a plan, use the tips in How to Create a Portable Vision Board to help you create your best vision board.