I don’t care what others say, there is no success without joy. Doing something successfully DOES NOT equal being successful.

I've seen (and have been working with) too many cases where someone looked around, having wealth, titles and recognition, and realized that...

•  If you are at the top but feel no satisfaction and joy, it’s not a success.

• If you sacrifice pleasure, connection, you-time, health and being yourself, it’s not a success.

• If all what you have are material things, if it’s empty and lonely over there, it’s not a success.

 I want to ask you:

Did you ever achieve something that you and others perceived as success, an award, recognition, promotion, but then you realized that it didn’t make much of a difference for your life quality?

That you didn’t feel better after the first wave of excitement and satisfaction?

And now, once it’s done, you need to keep working, maybe even harder?

If the answer is ”yes”, then it’s highly possible that your definition of success is wrong.

You’re chasing the wrong things or for wrong reasons.

Do you know the myth of King Midas and his golden touch?

Midas was a king, a very successful one. He had everything – good fortune, luxury, great castle, family - but it was never enough. He was obsessed with gold – it gave him the feeling of power and security, and he never stopped wanting more.

One day, Silenius, one of the companions of Dionysus, god of wine, vegetation and fertility, fell asleep in Midas’ rose garden (rumor has it he was drunk and passed out). Midas recognized him and invited him to his palace. After sted and happy Silenius returned to Dionysus, the grateful god offered Midas a reward, the option to ask for whatever he wants. Midas wished that his touch changes things into gold…

Long story short, the next day, Midas went through his palace touching everything, and turning it into gold. Eventually, he got tiered and hungry.

You know already what happened, don’t you? Every piece of food Midas touched and tried to put into his mouth turned into gold. He started to feel scared. And when his beloved daughter entered the room, he hugged her…. And yes, she immediately turned into a golden statue!

There are multiple endings to the story. One says that Dionysus helps Midas get rid of the gift and reverse the spell, other tell how Midas actually died of starvation…

In any case, the lesson the myth is teaching us is quite obvious.

Be careful what you aim for, and what you are exchanging in the process.

Once you redefine what you truly want and need in your life, and place your job and money as part of the picture instead of it being the ultimate goal, disconnecting it from “what others think”, a new definition of success will present itself to you, YOUR success.