I’ll be the first to admit it: When I first got hooked on the idea of startups, the goal in my mind was monetary.
I wanted to be “financially free” so that I could do all the things I wanted to do but was unable to do due to money.
So my first startup was a “big idea.” It could change the world (or at least I thought so), and I would be rewarded enormously for what I would do — given time.
After trying a few different ways in order to reach the success I had in mind, I realized that I was unhappy more than I was happy.
My second startup, Buffer, served a very different purpose for me.
I could have easily oriented the second idea just like the first, but I wasn’t letting myself go down that route again.
My goal had shifted — I was no longer purely after the money.
My new goal and definition of success is to be able to do whatever I want with my time. This is what I spend my time working towards.
This change in what I define as success has affected my actions in a huge way. I want to limit spending time on things I don’t want to be doing.
Now I simply try to act each day towards reaching that goal. This results in very different actions than with my previous definition of success.
As time has gone on, I’ve discovered that the main goal I want to achieve has changed a lot. My definition of success and goals may change again in the short or long term, and they may well not be the goals other people are pursuing.
What is your current definition of success, and have you questioned it recently?
Try Buffer for free
140,000+ small businesses like yours use Buffer to build their brand on social media every month
Get started nowRelated Articles
Every year since 2016 we've closed Buffer for a week at the end of the year. It’s like a reset, except across the whole company.
TikTok's parent company must divest the app or face a ban in the U.S. Here's everything we know, plus how to plan ahead.
Nine years ago, we decided to launch a new free product alongside Buffer. We called it Pablo, and it was a huge hit in our community. Within just seven months of its launch, half a million photos were created using Pablo. Similarly, we had the initial ideas for Stories Creator and Remix many years ago now. All three of these tools have been an important part of Buffer’s story. They’ve taught us lessons and helped us connect with a wider audience. In Pablo’s case, the idea for this tool happene