Success is supposed to feel motivating. Instead, for a lot of smart, capable people, it feels heavy… confusing… or just not that satisfying.
And at the end of a year — when the noise dies down and the opportunity [demands?!] to reflect can’t be dodged — that disconnect tends to get louder.
In this video, I zoom out and name something many of us sense but rarely articulate: the definition of success we inherited doesn’t match the reality we’re living in. And when the story is broken, no amount of effort fixes the feeling.
This isn’t about setting resolutions or scrapping ambition. It’s about telling the truth before the calendar flips — and beginning to reclaim success as something that’s actually worth pursuing, especially in the world we’re stepping into now.
Why This Matters
If success is meant to fuel our lives, why does chasing it so often drain them?
We’re surrounded by loud, well-engineered narratives about what success should look like — power, money, freedom, optimization, self-mastery. Each holds a grain of truth. None hold the whole. In a moment of overlapping crises, these partial stories quietly set us up to feel like we’re failing… even when we’re doing “everything right.”
This video examines five common myths about success — and opens the door to a more honest, multidimensional way forward.
Learning Objectives
Recognize why modern success narratives feel hollow or exhausting 🙂↕️
Understand why “define success for yourself” isn’t as freeing as it sounds 😳
Begin reframing success as multidimensional — something that sustains you, includes others, and contributes to the world ✨
A Tiny Experiment
Finish this sentence — quickly, without editing yourself:
“At this stage of my life, success would feel like ______.”
Notice what comes up. Especially anything that isn’t about winning, proving, or accumulating.
No fixing (yet). Just noticing.
What’s Next
In Video 3, we look at the invisible force that keeps even well-defined success from delivering satisfaction: the law of diminishing returns — and why doing more of what’s always worked eventually stops working at all.
If you’re here in real time, on the edge of the calendar flip, consider this your permission to pause before pushing forward, or popping the champagne. Happy New Year 🥳
Nell
PS A quick heads-up: the rest of this mini-course will only be shared with paid subscribers. Not for any reason other than that it works best when people have a little skin in the game and are choosing it on purpose.
That commitment changes how we show up, how seriously we practice, and what actually sticks, so the paywall is designed to drive the impact we’re all here for.
If cost is a barrier, message me — I’m happy to send a gift code. Sharing the work matters far more to me than the subscription fees!
