What if you’ve misunderstood what it takes to be successful all along?

When an Eastern philosophy like mindfulness becomes globalized, there’s a tendency—particularly in Western cultures—to feel like we’re doing it “wrong.” This is true of practically everything—the sense that we must live up to an ideal standard in all that we do. But, of all the places to seek success via perfection, mindfulness is the LAST.

While the drive to achieve success can be inspired by feelings like passion, love, and commitment, all too often, folks operate from a belief system limited by perfectionism and “not-enoughness.” On the other hand, mindfulness is all about cultivating a mindset of “enoughness”—precisely as you are, right now. In other words: not perfect.

What I’m about to say might blow your mind, but… You do need to be perfect to be “successful.”

You just need to be YOU.

That’s where mindfulness can help.

Ask yourself this: What if “success” meant nothing more than your ability to remove all the barriers that prevent you from fully embracing and experiencing the present moment? What if you believed that the forces around you were working together in service to your highest benefit?

How might the way you live your life and how you work to achieve success change?

Once you begin operating from the belief that the definition of success is the ability to remove all barriers preventing you from fully embracing and experiencing the present moment, you’ll discover there are only three critical strategies for achieving success.

Yep. Just three.

1. Start by awakening to your highest potential.
   Most people barely understand the true nature of their highest potential, let alone how to awaken it. Often, standing in the way are lifelong beliefs around fear of rejection and low self-worth. Don’t waste time asking yourself: Who am I to be great? Instead, consider: who are you NOT to be?
2. Celebrate your life as it is in the present moment.
   Most people who cling to their suffering do so out of familiarity and a subconscious sense of identity. So many of us don’t celebrate our lives because we’re too busy putting our pain on a pedestal. But what if everything in your life is happening FOR you, instead of TO you? Celebrate the “is-ness” of that—accepting and embracing what your life is right now.
3. Prioritize doing what brings you joy.
   Far too many folks I know have a hard time grasping what genuine joy feels like, let alone how to achieve it in the first place. Too often, we confuse joy with things like cocktails, some random person on social media telling us all the things we want to hear, or achieving a huge promotion that requires us to sacrifice every other area of our life outside of work. But put simply, joy is—and only ever is—the highest vibration on the Emotional Guidance Scale. It must be generated from INSIDE of you, not outside.

The idea is that awakening to your highest potential, celebrating your life as it is in every moment, and centering what brings you joy lead to being completely and unequivocally present. In that case, let’s take the true definition of success one step further—beyond just removing the barriers that lead to complete and total presence.
What if the definition of success is as simple as experiencing joy?