My boss told me
“You know, you’re a smart person,
and
people like working with you.
If you joined in more,
you’d be hired on the spot.”
To which I replied,
“Exactly.
That’s why I don’t join in.”
He was taken aback.
“I like short term contracts,” I explained.
“My goal is to give you a great short term contract,
not to be hired full time.
If I leave you happy
that you’ve hired me,
the contract has been a success.”
One of my author buddies is a New York Times Bestseller.
People point to her as being successful,
but my buddy shared that
she never had achieving NYT Bestseller status as her goal.
Her goal,
to write and publish one hundred stories,
hasn’t yet been met
so she doesn’t consider herself a success.
You can’t judge success
without knowing a person’s goal.