Defining Success

While aimlessly surfing yesterday this article caught my eye. I joked to my partner- well how successful are you if you're not only up before 8AM, but also doing 5 things too. I'm a night owl. I have always been a night owl. One of my earliest & best memories is of watching late night television with my grandmother & sometimes my great Aunt Mac until the "This concludes our broadcast day...." with the waving flag scene message came on at I believe 4AM. So I imagine I also come from a long line of night owls. I love the hours between 2 and 4AM. The house is usually still, but not always.The gelfs definitely inherited some owl DNA from me. I love the way my yard looks lit by the moon & the dim porch light. Even if it's a horrific mess of toys & trash pulled apart by the chickens, it just doesn't look as bad when dimly lit. I love the quiet. I love the peacefulness. And should something happen to disrupt that peaceful quiet, if a little one has a nightmare, if a girlfriend calls (yes my friends can & sometimes do call at 2a) with any nature of emergency; they can have my complete & undivided attention because at 2am my To Do List has long become a Ta Done List. Most often though nothing interrupts me at 4a and I can just be.

The article above, the article about highly successful people and their morning habits; it is well written. I imagine that highly successful people do indeed do these things. Truth be told, most days I am up before 8AM- I have a farm & babies I don't often get to indulge in my 2-4am special time. Of the 5 suggestions, I already practice 3 and the other 2 I am not interested in trying thankyouverymuch. It's good advice if you're into that sort of thing. For me though it inspired some naval gazing I want to share here.

Who is a highly successful person? In an unrelated conversation recently my partner used Donald Trump (disclaimer: neither of us are a fan of Mr. Trump) as an example of a successful, self-made man. I disagreed. I always disagree. Self-made yes, financially successful sure; but is that the only measure of success? Again, not a fan so I don't know his biography well but I do believe he's been divorced at least twice. While I am sure that there is no shortage of women interested in dating The Donald (I don't know if he's currently available, doesn't matter) the point I want to make here is that I bet sorting out who's sincerely interested in him from who's interested in his wallet is more than a little difficult. Sounds lonely to me.

If I were to share what my personal finances look like I am pretty confident no one would use the words highly successful to describe me. I am totally OK with that but I would disagree all the same. I do not punch a clock, I don't even wear a watch. There is a schedule I almost always follow, but it is set by my needs & the needs of my family. My family sits together for almost every meal. Frequently we share our table with friends or are guests at their tables.When my adult son had emergency surgery about a month ago I was able to drop everything else, pack the little Gelfs & drive 600+ miles to see for myself that he was OK. My relationship is fulfilling.My friendships have depth. Occasionally I have absolute peace & contentment at 3a. I don't know that I would ever refer to myself or my life as highly successful. It's not on my To Do List anyway. There are of course areas I am motivated to improve; but I think it is successful work-in-progress.