It’s been a week of distractions and as this is my last morning of free time before the weekend hits I feel a need to get something on the blog!

At the beginning of this week I had questions running around in my head around the theme of success.  What it is, how it should be defined and what it means for me now.

On Monday I had the third in a series of car issues, which I won’t bore you with, but what ended up with me sitting in a garage for a few hours waiting for a new battery to be installed in my car.  So sitting in the lounge area I hooked up to the Wi-Fi and dived into social media.

Whilst I was stumbling around on twitter I came across a new follower, an old school friend and so we had a quick exchange of direct messages to touch base.  Then I had a nose around to see who else they were following and came across another face from the past.

The tangled web of social media networking – the challenges of who to ‘friend’ or ‘follow’ and what you wish to share with whom.

Anyway this got me thinking about the fact that I’m feeling a ‘bit older’ and that this year it’s twenty years since I started my undergraduate degree and therefore quite a few more years ago than that, that I was sat in a class with some of these people at school.  I had a few moments of wondering what they were all up to and what I could remember about who.

A web presence is a powerful thing and although I know that the majority of websites are built to market and sell a person or product it is interesting to think about that external perspective and what others see when they find you online.

What would we like others to perceive about us and our success?

Success can be measured in so many different ways.  There is the high flying career success: hitting the headlines, being the best in your field, networking and promoting yourself and your skills with the wider world.  Having the website with the shiny pictures and glowing reviews.

There is work based personal success: knowing that you have done the very best that you can.  Knowing that you have acted professionally with strong moral and ethical purpose – gone the extra mile.  Been thanked or rewarded for your efforts.  Personal satisfaction of a job well done.

Then there is something much deeper in terms of internal contentment.

Alongside all of this there is the mix between the workplace and the life.

I’m not working at the moment in a professional sense, but I am working at supporting my family and for me that was a huge shift.  Now I am a couple of years into this new role, new way of life and we are doing OK.  However…

I’m at the point where the date in the diary for the next phase of life is approaching and although there is time yet, the planning side of my brain is going:  “What do I do next?”

I guess part of me hopes that alongside the public perception of an individual’s success that they have that inner contentment.  That feeling that life is good and that they are making a difference.  I hope that the energies consumed in gaining the successes in their professional world haven’t killed off the successes of their personal lives.

I’ve had the luxury of taking a break, having a bit more time to breathe and to reflect.  It’s not been an easy ride, but I’ve got to the point where I can say it is working and I do have those moments of internal contentment.  Moments that are more frequent and longer lasting now.  I just need to work out what my plan will be for the future and hope that I can maintain the balance whilst seeking the professional success that I still crave.