How do you measure success?

A few months ago I received an email from an old friend I hadn’t connected with in quite some time. At the bottom of his email in the signature there was a small box with the simple statement; “We Rise By Lifting others”…for whatever reason I immediately cut and pasted the block onto my desktop and I’ve looked at it almost daily since then…In the last few weeks and days I’ve been involved with a couple of different organizations who are planning and executing fundraising campaigns to help them survive the next several months which for most theatres will be pretty dark times financially… This work has really made the notion of that statement I just mentioned more topical and vital to the entire conversation of what SUCCESS looks like and maybe even feels like. To me at least:)

So…Doing a little research (like I do) I discovered that it was written by Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) an American writer and orator during the Golden Age of Free Thought, who campaigned in defence of agnosticism. He was nicknamed "The Great Agnostic". Huh…someone famous for NOT having religious beliefs wrote a statement so ingrained in the catholic churches I grew up in…

My most memorable and productive professional experiences have been situations where clearly the work I was doing brought a high level of “lifting” to peoples lives and experiences, including my own.

The hundreds of children I have engaged with in theatre camps, conservatories, classes and productions I have directed that I have watched grow and develop right before my eyes. The notable ones who arrived with little or no confidence (some I remember could barely speak) and left with there heads and shoulders held high!

The community productions I was involved with that truly engaged and inspired each and everyone in some fascinating way that has always taken me by surprise.

The organizations I have been associated with that have grown, developed and become their best selves by engaging their community.

It is empowering to feel able to “lift” people to be their best selves.. By helping and encouraging them, you are given great gifts – the space to be kind, to create good karma, and to lift yourself up as you serve another person or a cause greater than yourself.

We are much more deeply connected than we could ever imagine, and everything we do to another, we do to ourselves. As we encourage another, or celebrate their success, we are sending the same message to ourselves. We are all in this place together after all aren’t we. Without really knowing it til now this is how I measured my success, and it was with organizations and employees who felt the same way that I have experienced “rising by lifting other” thereby feeling entirely successful and driven!

So…how will you measure your success?

We make a living by what we get. But we make a life by what we give. – Winston Churchill