The Best Measure of Success

Ask someone what they think the best measure of success would be for a new business venture, and they will likely reply with an answer centered around money; as in: has the venture made any money, or how much money has the venture made?

And while the money is certainly a critical componant, the movie The Secret is trying to teach us something a little bit different than that. So what is the best measure of success?

The answer to the question flys by so quickly in the movie that you probably missed it. The answer is on a card taped to John Asseref's vision board. No one in the movie actually says these words, but the card says "Joy is the best measure of success". Profound!

Now the business venture must ultimately be profitable; because joy will not last if the venture that is what we want to do is not able to surplant the current income we have, which is earned from what we may like to do and what we are doing currently.

Joy comes from using our talents to serve others. Some believe that serving others is designed to be a non-profit business. Many churches teach that service does not count if you are actually paid for it; then it's not service, its a business.

I would agree with that sentiment except for one small problem, that problem being that we were placed here on Earth (generally) without an endless supply of cash already given. As a result, we have to do something that earns us money. I think that some of these churches would say that we earn a living with drudgery, and then find joy in the volunteer service of others.

Why do they have to be separate? If we can arrange a way to be paid for the service that we render that gives us joy, then is that not what we should do? It does not mean that we cannot contribute time to volunteer causes (or money), but it gives us permission to make money doing what we love to do.

The joy and the magic of life will not be fully realized until we are able to spend all of our time doing what brings us joy, and being paid enough doing it to provide financial freedom, however we may define that.

Joseph