What makes for a successful individual?

This is something that I’ve been noodling on today. Is it to focus on building a flourishing career? Is it to spend time with family? Everyone’s path looks different, but some commonalities can guide us all. My two cents is below. Add your own in the comments!

1. Strive to be a lifelong learner

Humans are incredibly complex creatures, for lack of a better word, with sophisticated brains and limitless imagination.

We know it when we get stuck in a rut – no matter our leanings, preferences, or aptitudes. That’s where lifelong learning can make a world of difference. We want to avoid the monotony of go to work, go home, go to work, go home.

What this learning looks like will be different for us all. Maybe you are fascinated by nature and want to travel the world to appreciate the varied microbiomes. Perhaps you love woodworking, and you want to learn how to make a chifforobe to replicate one in an old family picture of your great-great-grandmother that you have always admired. Maybe you want to get an advanced certification for your business by learning a new skill. Perhaps you want to focus on people and development by raising children and seeing how they grow and become their own people, pursuing their passions. Maybe you want to write a mystery novel set in the Yukon Territories in winter.

All of this is learning something new. Something we can share that expands our minds. As you get older, it becomes more challenging to incorporate new ideas and concepts – unless this is already part of your mindset. Keeping your brain agile (in combination with many different things) can improve clarity in seniorhood, though more studies need to be done. Learning new things helps improve your memory and the speed at which you process thoughts.

Starting earlier just makes this all more enjoyable – plus, you get to learn a bunch of new things.

2. Find your happy

Nothing is worth anything if you aren’t happy. If your definition of success has been consistently influenced and crafted by outside forces, it might not be a message that feeds your soul. Take a moment to breathe and evaluate: Is this what you want for your life? A profound, uncomfortable question, I know – but enlightening.

If the answer is no, don’t worry. This isn’t a problem you need to solve in a day. Take some time with it. I know I did when I was exhausted, working in a corporate job for 60 hours a week, trading my health for a 401k, and the theoretical promise of future security. That wasn’t helping me then, though.

I spent months thinking about what would make me happy, consciously and subconsciously. Then I hit on editing – I’ve always loved editing and writing. I remember this idea forming in a conversation with a friend as I sat on my porch in the summer of 2019. I remember vividly.

Though it took me a couple of years to take the leap, I haven’t regretted it. I’m constantly developing new skills and taking classes that help me learn.

I’m on my way to finding my happy, slowly but surely.

Wherever you are, I hope you are on your way to finding yours.

3. Be yourself

It sounds so easy on paper but can be so hard to do in real life, especially in a profession that involves writing. Sure, freelance writing could be about the top 10 refrigerators on the market, or it could be about how your irritable bowel disease changed the structure of your life or the deep thoughts of your psyche. That isn’t easy to share, but we all have that content, that piece of something within us where we deeply need to feel understood.

Writers can bring that to the world and our community at large. It’s a gift born of being our authentic selves, of not hiding. Anything inauthentic can be felt in your energy – whether in a room or on a webpage. It makes you uncomfortable. That’s the key. This is all rooted in self-acceptance.

When you are free to be who you are and celebrate that, you can bring forth your ideas and speech authentically. You can support and inspire others who want to do the same.

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I called this a noodle session because it genuinely was. These are all difficult steps that I look to embody and carry with me. But this is just my definition. Today.

The beauty of a community is you all also have wonderful thoughts to share. Do so below if you feel comfortable – or feel free to send me an email at em@emsyth.com.

Noodle on, my friends!