What If Success Looks Different Now?

For most of my life, I knew exactly how to measure a successful day.

How many meetings did I have?

How many sales did I make?

How many things did I accomplish?

How many boxes did I check?

That way of measuring success served me well. It helped me build a career I loved, lead incredible teams, and achieve goals I never imagined when I was first starting out.

But somewhere along the way, I carried that same measuring stick into a season where it no longer fit.

Even after leaving corporate America, I found myself creating new checklists.

More programs.

More ideas.

More things to build.

More ways to prove I was still productive.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I was trying to build my encore with the same mindset that built my career.

Then something unexpected happened.

As I finished building the Encore Life website, I made a decision that surprised me.

I deleted my Services page.

Not because I couldn't coach.

Not because there isn't value in coaching.

But because I realized I didn't want to build a business around selling my time.

I wanted to build something that felt more like...home.

A place where women could come to understand their bodies, discover their calling, create more freedom, and know they didn't have to figure it all out alone.

That one decision changed more than my website.

It changed how I think about my days.

The next morning, I woke up with a feeling I hadn't expected.

Freedom.

Not because I had less work.

Because I had finally stopped creating work that didn't belong to me.

For the first time, I wasn't asking,

"What do I have to accomplish today?"

I was asking,

"How do I want to show up today?"

Those are very different questions.

Today, success looks like spending time with God before I open my computer.

It looks like moving my body because I want to care for the life I've been given.

It looks like meeting someone for coffee.

Encouraging a friend.

Having one meaningful conversation.

Sharing something I'm learning.

Living the kind of life I hope encourages someone else.

Ironically, I think I'm actually accomplishing more now than when I was chasing accomplishment.

Because my days are no longer driven by a checklist.

They're guided by a rhythm.

I've come to believe that every season of life deserves its own definition of success.

The measure that served us in one chapter isn't necessarily the one that will serve us in the next.

That doesn't mean the first half of our lives was wrong.

It means we've grown.

Our priorities have changed.

Our calling has matured.

Maybe that's what an encore really is.

Not becoming someone new.

Becoming more fully yourself.

So today, I want to leave you with the question that changed everything for me.

What if success looks different now?

What if success isn't measured by how much you accomplish...

...but by how faithfully you live the life you're trying to build?

Maybe success looks like taking care of your health.

Maybe it looks like protecting your peace.

Maybe it looks like saying no to something that no longer fits.

Maybe it looks like having coffee with a friend instead of answering one more email.

Maybe it looks like trusting that your worth was never tied to your productivity in the first place.

If you're in an in-between season, trying to figure out what's next, I hope this encourages you.

You don't have to throw away everything you've learned.

You don't have to become someone else.

You simply get to ask a new question.

What if success looks different now?

And maybe...

Just maybe...

That's exactly how it's supposed to be.

Until next time...

I got you. 💚