#120: How Do You Define Personal Success?

“There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.”
–Christopher Morley, American author and editor, 1890-1957

In This Issue:

Editor’s Note: I had another essay planned for you today – it’s loosely called “How To Know When it’s Time To Raise Your Rates.” I’ve been watching a colleague struggle with this issue to the point where I actually threatened to smack some sense into her – jokingly, of course, but still, I felt that strongly about it. Her health was suffering, her finances were suffering – and I was sure that all she had to do was raise her fees with her existing clients and virtually all of her problems would be solved.

But in my conversations with her – and with many of the people I work with in my Copy Protégé Mentoring Program – issues of money are rooted in very deep, fertile soil. They can be very tough for people to address. So while I’m still going to send you that article –I decided I needed to re-run today’s article first. This was one of the earliest issues of The Copy Protégé – before most of our current readers were on board. It will lead you through some steps to lay the groundwork for your financial goals and decision – an important precursor to tackling the topic of raising your rates. Enjoy – and I’ll send the rest along next week!

How Do You Define Personal Success?
by Monica Day

Some people have more money than they could ever need or want…and still, they’re not happy. Others live a very meager existence, and still feel that most of their days are well-spent and worthwhile.

Money, clearly, only has some bearing on our personal happiness.

The greater portion of contentment comes from finding meaning in our lives. And money doesn’t confer meaning in and of itself…although it can be an important vehicle for manifesting the meaning you desire.

It’s not enough to say you want a six-figure salary or a seven-figure net worth…you have to know why.

One of the reasons copywriting works so well for me is because I always wanted to be a professional writer. I like the freedom of being able to work independently. And the income allows me to travel, to live where I want, to send my kids to private school, and to contribute to causes that are important to me.

But the connection with copywriting goes to an even deeper level for me.

More than anything, I value having the ability to influence others with my words. Whether it is to move someone to greater introspection, reveal new or hidden information, or issue a call to action – the best copywriting has the power to change people’s lives.

I believe the ability to communicate with others is one of the most powerful skills we can possess – one that can be used to achieve great things. Ultimately, I plan to do just that.

If I didn’t have these deeper reasons backing up my goal to achieve six figures…and ultimately seven figures and the status of independent wealth….I’m not sure how I would forge ahead when things get challenging. (And believe me, they do, often…)

I’ll share with you an exercise I’ve developed over a period of about 15 years – without even realizing that I was coming up with a ‘system’ for determining how much wealth I needed to accumulate. Of course, you can do it in just a few sittings!

#1 Discover What Matters Most To You

The first step to uncovering your personal definition for success is to make a laundry list of the things that are important to you and that interest you. Everything from cherishing your family and friends to solving world hunger to riding horses and going sailing on weekends…you name it. If it’s something you’d like to pursue in this lifetime, it belongs on your list.

#2 Define Your Most Essential Goals

Then, mercilessly cut that list down to the top ten. These are the things that you feel you MUST pursue in some way before you reach the end of your days. Ultimately, these ten items will comprise your legacy – how people remember you at your funeral. The list you emerge with from this step should be that essential to you.

#3 Drive Down To Specifics

Next, take a little time to flesh out each one of your top ten goals more specifically. For example, maybe you have a passion for sailing. Determine what it will take for you to satisfy that passion fully. You may decide you want to buy a sailboat, dock it within an hour of where you live, and spend 50% of your time sailing. Or it may be enough to rent a boat for two weeks a year and spend your vacations sailing.

Be sure to be more specific than “Retire in 10 years.” Retirement is a nebulous term – as anyone who has retired young knows, you can only play so much golf and go to the spa so many times before you crave a life with deeper meaning. Ask yourself the question “why” often as you create the vision for your life.

#4 Determine The Cost Of Your Dreams

Once you determine the level of mastery or involvement you want in each of these life-defining goals, you’ll have to also figure out what it will cost to achieve them.

Not every item on this list will require money. Some will take time and others will require that you cultivate a certain attitude or outlook on life. But each will carry some type of cost.

Sharpen your pencil and determine what the cost is – particularly of time and money.

Once you add it up – and place a little padding on there for unforeseen events – you’ll have an idea of what it’s going to take to fund the kind of life that would make you feel personally successful.

Do It For Love, Don’t Do It For Money

When you are considering the opportunity to become a six-figure copywriter – or any path to greater freedom and wealth – take the time to ask yourself how it serves your deeper goals for your life.

You might find that achieving the items on your essential list don’t require as much income or net worth as you thought you needed. Or you might find that you thought $100,000 a year would do the trick…and you’ll need more like a half million!

You might also discover that copywriting isn’t the best fit for you. Travel writing might be better, or resume writing, or graphic design. Or you might prefer to work with your hands or talk to people every day. If you’re a square peg and copywriting is a round hole – don’t try to stuff yourself in and wonder why you feel so frustrated. Take the time to assess yourself first.

The most useful part of this exercise, regardless what it tells you about your ultimate career choice, is that it aligns your wealth aspirations with your life aspirations. Most people confuse the two and wonder why they never feel satisfied.

Resource Referral: Tools You Can Use To Assess Yourself

Sometimes, when you want to undertake a personal assessment, it helps to have a few prompts. I’ve found that tests such as the Myers-Briggs personality test or other similar assessments have been helpful for me to better understand my strengths and weaknesses.

Here is a link to a set of assessments you can take online that I’ve personally enjoyed and learned from. The very top one is free to take and you get a sample report back. If you like it and you want more detail you can upgrade to more detailed report levels. If you think it’s a bunch of malarkey, at least you won’t have spent anything to find out!

The assessment takes about 15 minutes online, but you can stop and go back as often as you’d like. It’s also available in nine languages. Also, there are more specialized assessments available for a minimal charge. I took the IQ one recently – to see if I was still as smart as I was in the 5th grade or if my, um, lifestyle choices over the years have robbed me of more brain cells than I intended. I was pleased with the results…you might be too. Check it out.

Also, Krista and I just went through an assessment to help us work together better as business partners – it’s called Strength StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths by Tom Rath – and it comes with a password to an online assessment. Then, there are the two books that accompany the assessment, and help you put it to good use. They are:

Quick Copy Tip: Skip The Stuff That Slows You Down

I remember many teachers in grade school giving the same sage advice as they handed out our weekly math or spelling tests: if you get stuck on a problem, skip it and breeze through the ones you know. Then, go back to the harder ones later.

These days, with a 4-8 page promo considered ‘short,’ and 12-20 pages the norm, I can’t afford a big slow down when I get stuck. I’ve been looking for tricks to keep up my writing pace, when a subhead, transition, or particular selling point I need to make is giving me a headache.

Getting stuck costs dearly in terms of time and stress about meeting deadlines. So I reached back to grade school memories for a solution. So far, so good.

I skip any section where I’m slowing down or getting stuck and jump into another part of the package or letter. I make a note of what belongs in the section I’m skipping and highlight it in yellow. That way I can go back and easily spot the places where I went ahead and fill them in before turning the promotion in to the client.

Isn’t it funny – sometimes we look for new tricks, when the old ones we learned years ago work just fine. Try it.