Diary of a CEO: Entry #4
Dear Reader,
Happy Friday! This week I worked on launch Ringlet’s new website, had a photoshoot with Hannah and Elise, put our new sales process into place, and did some development work. While Elise was in Philly we had a partners dinner and were discussing our goals, and how we define and measure success. That conversation inspired me to have this conversation with you today. ‘Success’ is something so intangible, but when you’re working towards the metrics you’ve set for success it seems extremely tangible.
Before I get into it, let’s get two things clear
There is no room in this conversation for feigning humility. You don’t want to be braggadocious, but please don’t conflate genuine pride of hard earned achievements as something meant to brag to condescend or belittle others. Allow yourself and others to speak about their accomplishments with pride and confidence.
I’m going to speak about how I felt about some of my successes, let’s get this straight – everyone is created equal and achievements are unique to every person. Please don’t use my proof points as a measuring stick for your successes.
Since college, I LOVED watching Forbes lists; 30 Under 30, 100 Most Powerful Women, Top Creators, CEO Next List, Next 1000, it goes on. It was always a goal of mine, a metric for success for me, to one day be listed in Forbes.
Last year I was listed in Forbes Next 1000, The Upstart of Entrepreneurs Redefining the American Dream. Everyone around me was so kind in celebrating, and congratulating me. I kept waiting for some sense of accomplishment or completion in a success metric. The thing is, that feeling never came. Instead I started to think about how the listing was a vanity metric, it worked to get more awareness of my work, but I still had a lot to accomplish. The business was still recovering from the pandemic, our team still wasn’t huge, and I wanted to be making more money and have more responsibility in my industry.
I’d set this success metric for myself but when I actually achieved it I didn’t feel like “Phew, I’ve succeeded I can take a deep breath here.”.
When I started at Ringlet in 2018 my success metric was to start bringing in $10,000/month for the company in revenue. Once we hit $10K, I didn’t even skip a beat charging forward towards $20k because once I saw $10k I didn’t feel like it was enough – this pattern continued.
The same thing happened 6 weeks ago when I became CEO. It was a success metric when I wasn’t in the role, but once here I am focused on how much more there is to do.
Here’s the thing I’ve come to realize: there is no point in measuring success or waiting to feel “successful”. Being a “success” is arbitrary.
You can decide today that you are successful and walk through life happy and continually affirming yourself. The truth is that when you achieve, you need to find some pride in that thing for yourself. Then, use those things as affirmations of what you already believe, you are successful. When you fail you need to take those failures as lessons in how to achieve the next time.
This is hard work, it's active, and it's challenging – but it is well worth it.
For myself I decided to take these intangible achievements and turn them into something tangible to serve as a constant source of affirmation for myself. After the Forbes listing I found a local, small, sustainable, women owned jewelry store and had a simple thin gold ring made for myself to mark that accomplishment. I have a ring being made for the CEO promotion now, and I’ll get one every time I have something I want to celebrate for myself.
Each ring will build into a stack. As I get older, have children and grandchildren my intention is to give them these rings for their accomplishments to help them have a physical reminder so they can affirm themselves more easily.
This may seem silly to you, or it may resonate – the point is it doesn’t matter how it seems to you, because I’ve learned it's what I need to prevent being stuck in a cycle of constantly chasing some metric of success that’ll never satisfy me or I’ll never reach. Instead I’m trying to find a way to view myself as a success and use each achievement as an affirmation of that belief in myself.
I really encourage you to think deeply and create a way to separate yourself from your work, while also finding a way to celebrate your accomplishments and use them to affirm that you are a success exactly where you are right now.
No diary entry next week– I’ll be in a stuffing filled haze of the holiday. Happy Friday, and enjoy next week!
XOXO