When it comes to defining success, there’s no one right answer. It can mean owning your own business, making over a million dollars, driving a particular car or even just having more freedom with your time. But when broken down into a single workday, success can sometimes be a little more difficult to measure. Its definition can even change throughout your career as you develop both professionally and personally.
This change has certainly been the case for the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Below, they each share what they consider to be the biggest indication of a successful day and why, and why their definition of success has evolved over time.
Young Entrepreneur Council members discuss how they measure the success of their workdays.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. My To-Do List Is Shorter Than At The Beginning Of The Day
My days consist of to-do lists. At the end of my day, I look at my list, and if it’s smaller than what it was that morning, I deem it a productive day. As an entrepreneur, you can’t expect to check off everything on your list. But, if you feel like you’ve made some progress, big or small, this indicates that you’ve had a successful day. This mindset wasn’t always the case for me. I used to think that a successful day consisted of completing a large project or closing an important deal. Success is a series of small accomplishments. My best piece of advice is to create realistic to-do lists daily and try to check off at least three tasks before the end of the day. – Nick Venditti, StitchGolf
2. I Have Enough Energy To Enjoy My Time After Work
I know that my day was successful when I leave the workday with enough energy to enjoy my life outside of work. As I’ve moved through my career, I’ve learned to base my accomplishments on how I’d like to feel rather than on outside metrics of success. This means I tailor my daily activities and set goals based on how I want to feel. For example, if I want to feel more confident, I make sure to work out and blow-dry my hair. If I want to feel more connected, I schedule time to call my family and hang out with my friends. If I want to feel more successful, I make sure that my work is organized and that I have a lot of energy and passion to do it. I don’t force myself to be “productive” on days that I’m not feeling it. – Rachel Beider, PRESS Modern Massage
3. I’ve Worked With My Team To Identify New Solutions And Opportunities
When I started my business, I associated success with sales wins and good news. Now, I associate a successful day with resilience. As an entrepreneur, you eventually realize that every day will bring challenges and new problems to solve. Success is when we work as a team to come up with new solutions and even identify new opportunities that will make our business that much stronger as a result. – Christina Drake, Willa’s Oat Milks
4. My Actions Today Have Made A Long-Term Impact
Early in a career, a good day may be determined by the ability to complete a project, close a deal or work through a task list. As my business progresses, I measure success based on the long-term impact of my actions today. This has helped me develop a more forward-looking approach in everything I do so that my time is better spent developing the company instead of just overinvesting time in the trenches. When you accomplish tasks that help drive the business forward for the coming months and years, you’re able to sustainably grow your revenues and profits. – Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep Mattress
5. I’ve Moved The Needle On Something
When I started my career, I judged the success of my day by my to-do list. If I finished it, the day was successful; if I didn’t, it wasn’t. But I realized that such a cut-and-dry indicator of success wasn’t realistic for me. I run a startup, so there are constantly things that pop up requiring my attention that I can’t always anticipate. I might put out 10 fires and, therefore, only do one thing on my to-do list. On paper, the day was unsuccessful, but in reality, it was productive in the places it needed to be at that given moment. I’ve since altered my definition of success and instead ask myself at the end of the day, “Have I moved the needle?” If the answer is “yes,” then I’ve had a successful day because I’m making progress, and on busy days, sometimes that’s all you can ask for. – Diana Goodwin, MarketBox
6. I Have Peace Of Mind At The End Of The Day
My peace of mind at the end of the day is a reasonable indicator. If I’ve accomplished several things I needed to, my mind lets me sleep well and move on. If I hit unavoidable delays all day or procrastinate, I’ll be much more dissatisfied and wired by the end of the day. As for changes throughout my career, I think a younger version of me focused on the number of hours I worked. An all-nighter or marathon work session was like a badge of pride. Now I focus on meaningful work and deeper connections and relationships with my teammates. It’s not the number of hours—it’s how you spend them. – Tyler Bray, TK Trailer Parts
7. I’ve Stuck To My Daily Schedule
I always start the professional part of my day with a list of incremental tasks necessary to achieve big goals. I start with that list and then move ahead by ticking the boxes as I complete the tasks. These tasks are also multifaceted: Some of them are pure executions and some are regular business communications, team meetings and so on. I started this practice on the first day of my professional career. I continue it because I believe in simplicity. This practice brings me extreme satisfaction as it tells me that I’m moving in the right direction. To me, success is sticking to your daily schedule. Regularity brings sustainable growth, and this is what matters to me. It ensures that collectively we are moving toward achieving our professional goals. It gives me a sense of completeness. – Vikas Agrawal, Infobrandz
8. I Tackled My Biggest ‘Rock’
It all depends on what success looks like to you. At the beginning of your career—and it’s okay if you still do this—it might look like crossing items off a to-do list. It could also look like getting to inbox zero. If you get most or all of your task items completed, that might be the definition of a successful day for you. For me, it’s tackling my biggest rock. At the beginning of each day, I jot down the three big “rocks,” or actions, I need to complete. When I close my laptop at the end of the day, if one of those rocks has been moved, I consider the day a success. Over the years, this has become easier to manage and more of a focus. I used to think being busy was success, but now I know success is about making one significant impact time and time again. – Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc.
9. I Feel Happy With My Work
In my mind, I’ve had a successful day if I’m happy with my work. I think it’s important that we are satisfied with the progress we’ve made. If you constantly compare yourself to other high-profile business owners or doubt your work, you will have a hard time growing personally and professionally. I suggest establishing a to-do list and managing it based on your standards and expectations. I’ll admit, this is different from how I used to do things. I would look at successful people in my industry and strive to do what they do: work 13-hour days, six-day workweeks with little time for much else. I quickly discovered this lifestyle wasn’t for me. I needed to find a way to fit that level of productivity into a seven-to-eight-hour block, so that’s what I did. – John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC
