Rethinking Success
It’s Not About Getting It Right
Hello and Happy Monday,
I was working with a client recently who told me she measures her success by how much or how little she stammers in a given conversation. If she barely stammers, it’s a good day. If she does, it’s a bad one.
It makes sense—we’re taught to measure success by how well we do something. How polished, how smooth, how perfect. We love a clean arc, a clear “before” and “after” story where struggle disappears and only excellence remains.
But as we worked together, something shifted. Because what happens on the days when she stammers? What happens when she still feels that tension, that push and pull of speech? Does that mean she’s failed?
Success, we realised, isn’t about not stammering. Success is about speaking even when she does.
It’s about showing up.
It’s about trusting that her voice has value, regardless of how it arrives.
And isn’t that true for all of us?
How often do we measure our success by how flawless we seem? By how little we struggle, how well we "perform"? But real success isn’t about removing the challenge. It’s about expanding the space around it. It’s about building the resilience to keep going, to take up space, to allow ourselves to be heard—even when it feels messy.
I wonder how often we limit ourselves because we’re measuring progress by the wrong markers. Because we’re waiting for the “perfect” moment, the “perfect” performance, instead of recognizing that showing up as we are is already enough.
For my client, success is no longer about avoiding stammering altogether. It’s about using her voice when she has something to say, rather than when she thinks she can say it perfectly.
And if we applied that same definition to our own lives, what might change?
Wishing you a week of speaking up—messy, imperfect, and fully present.
M x