What is Success?

I was going through my old blog posts (and when I mean old, around mid-2000s old) and I was surprised with my eloquence. I didn't know I could write that well when now, I could barely write a complete sentence with correct grammar (and when I reread that sentence, I already saw something wrong).

It made me wonder what happened to my story-telling skills. I tried my hand a couple of years back in writing stories but that somehow disappeared when I gave birth to my second child. Maybe life happened? I'm not sure but I miss being able to write as much as I wanted. Maybe my creativity got buried under the guise of formal business correspondence?

Anyway, I went through my old blogs and found something interesting. I wrote this around November 2006---13 years ago.

So what really drives me? What do I consider as a success?

I am an intellectual person. As long as I am doing something that enables me to learn regularly, I'm a happy camper. Success is also not measured through material wealth or promotions. Success for me is reaching my full potential and being able to use all the talents that God has given me. Success for me is measured by meeting the objectives set AND surpassing them; to see how far I can be stretched; to see how far I can go.

It made me reflect if the definition still stands until now. Probably, maybe that's the reason why I made this move--so I can reach my full potential. However, in my goodbye letter to my team leaders, I wrote this:

My definition of success is not how far I've grown but how far my people have grown. Even if I'm no longer in Credit, I want to see you guys grow. I want to witness your success and victories and be there for you when you fail so I can show you where you can learn. Only then can I say that I'm successful. 

The first definition of success was a bit self-centered and I understand that. But after managing teams of people for the past decade, my definition somewhat changed and it's something I can relate more to now.

However, I can always aim for both. I am, after all, an achiever.