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Episode 55 | Defining Success at Work

by Niamh Moynihan on
Success
Episode Introduction

In this episode, Niamh Moynihan challenges the traditional view of success and asks you to consider what success truly means to you. She shares her personal journey of redefining success beyond job titles and seniority to find personal fulfillment.

EP 55 | Defining Success at Work
  • 7 min
EP 55 | Defining Success at Work
The Better Workday Podcast
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Episode Timestamps

00:00 Redefining Success Beyond Titles

03:04 The Importance of Personal Fulfilment

05:15 Taking Action Towards Your Definition of Success

Episode Summary
The Myth of Seniority as Success

Niamh reflects on her early career, where she defined success by climbing the corporate ladder. This pursuit led her to overwork, say yes to everything, and ultimately burn out multiple times, not always due to a high volume of work, but because of her relentless self-pressure. She explains that while there's nothing wrong with having CEO goals, it's important to recognize that not everyone needs to aspire to a top position. The episode encourages listeners, regardless of their age or career stage, to re-evaluate their own definition of success and to consider if it is based on outdated ideas or on the life they want to live today.

Taking Action for a Better Workday

Niamh suggests a thought exercise: imagine you could start over in a similar job and company, making a fresh start on how you approach your workday and the type of work you do. This exercise can help you identify what changes you would make and what a "successful" week would look like for you. The answer might be to focus on personal branding and visibility to move up, or it could be to set stronger boundaries for your personal life. It could also mean spending more time with people, learning new skills, or mastering a particular technology. By understanding your personal definition of success, you can make small, intentional changes to shift your career direction toward a more fulfilling.

Key Learning Outcomes:

  • Success doesn't have to be defined by seniority or job titles.

  • Pushing for promotions can lead to burnout, even in less hectic roles.

  • Your definition of success may be based on old ideas rather than your current life.

  • Imagining a fresh start can reveal what you truly value in your work.

  • Making a small change can begin to shift your career toward a more personal definition of success.

5 Key Takeaways

  1. Question Your Definition of Success: Regularly ask yourself how you are measuring success and whether it aligns with your current life, not just old ideas or role models.

  2. Seniority Isn't Everything: Recognize that while a CEO role is valid, success can be found in many different roles and levels within an organization.

  3. Prioritize Personal Fulfillment: Focus on what you truly enjoy doing, such as helping others or solving problems, rather than just chasing promotions.

  4. Set Boundaries: Redefining success might mean resetting your boundaries to give more attention to your personal life.

  5. Take a Small Action: You can start moving toward your new definition of success by making one small change, like blocking off time, talking to different people, or spending more time on a specific task.

About the Host and Podcast

Welcome to The Better Workday Podcast with your host, Niamh Moynihan. Niamh is the founder of Better Workday. She will challenge you to think differently about how you manage your time, energy, attention and relationships at work to be successful while supporting your well-being.

In each episode Niamh shares new insights and practical ideas to help you create a better workday.

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Episode 55 Full Transcript

You don't have to be the CEO to be successful. In today's episode, I am asking you to take a step back and consider what success really means to you.

 

Welcome back to The Better Workday podcast. How are you doing? I am super excited because after recording this episode, I'm going in to deliver a talk to a group of graduates. Way back in 2017, I completed a degree in Business Information Systems and in just a few hours, I'll be talking to the graduating class of 2025 about how they can set themselves up for a better work day as they start their full time professional career.

 

And when I was preparing for this talk and when I was talking to the organisers about it, the main thing that stood out for me and the one thing I want them to hear is that you don't have to be the CEO to be successful. Oh my God. I remember when I was in my 20s, the one thing that I defined success by was seniority. I thought that if you got to manager, senior manager, director and imagine if I ever got to VP.

 

that my life would be perfect. And so I channeled so much energy into trying to climb the ladder, even when it didn't really fit with the way that I prefer to spend my time. So I would try really, really hard to say yes to everything. I was known as having a no problem attitude, which is another way for saying I couldn't say no. And I overworked to try and deliver everything. Instead,

 

of focusing on what I really liked doing, which was helping other people and solving the problems and working with my team. And honestly, that focus on trying to always get promoted often left me feeling a bit lonely. And that's not even touching on the fact that I would have burnt out multiple times from just not looking after myself. It's funny because I would have spoken about burnout quite a few times, but if you don't know me very well, I burnt out at different stages of my career.

 

It might surprise you to learn that not all of those burnouts were due to the volume of work. So they weren't all in like these really high paced, hectic workplaces where I was working 60, 70 hours a week. In fact, most of time it's because regardless of what was going on in the team or the wider organization, I was pushing myself to burn out. I was doing too much. And that's because I defined success in completely the wrong way. And that's not to say that

 

being a CEO or having CEO goals is wrong. In fact, I know people who have climbed the ladder and they have enjoyed every step of the way. And we do need to have people in every kind of role at every kind of level in order for us to build the companies that we love in order to be able to deliver the products and services that can have a wonderful impact in the world. So there is a place for everyone in an organisation, but not everyone needs to try to get to a

 

position and so regardless of whether you are 22, 32, 42, 52, 62, I want you to take a moment now and ask yourself how are you measuring success? Are you measuring it based on some idea that you captured a long time ago? Perhaps maybe something that you picked up from a role model you looked up to in the workplace like I did? Or are you defining it based on the life that you are currently living?

 

And a really nice way to check this is to imagine if you were moved to a similar job in a similar company in a similar industry and you had the opportunity to start again, to make a fresh start at how you approach your day, your week.

 

people that you work with, the type of work that you do. What changes would you make to your work? And how would you look at a successful working week if you had a chance to do it all over again? Now, for some people, the first thing that they'd be doing is building their personal brand so they can be seen, so they can be more visible, so they can move up the ladder. Brilliant. For others, though, might be, well, if I could do it all over again.

 

I would reset my boundaries because there's things in my personal life that need a lot more of my attention than I'm giving the moment. Or there might be some people that would say, honestly, I would spend way more time with people than I would with my tech. Or honestly, there'd be some people saying I would be blocking off time to learn these new skills that I have been dying to learn because success to me would mean mastering a particular technology, skill or something like that.

 

And now I don't know what the answer is for you, but I'm asking you today to take a moment. You have it here. You're listening to me already. Take this moment to step back, sit back and ask yourself, what does success mean for you today? And once you know that, once you have that answer, I know, I know for a fact that you can at least make one small, tiny tweak.

 

to start shifting your direction towards that new definition of success. So for me, you know, when I realized I didn't need to be the CEO to be successful, I started spending more time doing what I really enjoy and that's helping other people. I love helping other people. I get such a reward, that like warm feeling when I know that their workday is going to be a little bit better as a result of the conversation we've had. And so...

 

Long before I started Better Work Day, I started doing more of that in my current job and that changed the direction for me. So what little thing could change the direction for you? Is it going to be blocking off a little bit of time? Is it going to be talking to different people, spending more time with others? It can be anything. It just has to be one thing, one small start to move you slightly to the left and more towards the definition of success that you really want to achieve.

 

Okay, that's it for me for today. I'm going to grab my bag, get in my car and go to that event. can't wait and I can't wait to see you next week. Until next time, stay well and have a better work day.

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