What does success mean to you?

Success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. However, one’s personal definition of success can vary from person to person. For some, success may mean finishing a game changing project for your nonprofit organization, or even walking the two miles you told yourself you would. In this blog, we asked some of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation team to chime in on what success, in work and life, means to them.

Travis Cheney, CPA, Controller:
For me success is an internal measure.  Professionally, external parties could say, “He’s so successful, he is the Controller for Gulf Coast Community Foundation,” but for me my professional success is based and rated on the accomplishments I contribute.  If anyone on my team accomplishes something that brings him/her personal and professional satisfaction, that means I am succeeding as a leader.  Professionally I do not see any other measure of success outside of the performance of those I supervise.  Their successes are my successes and their failures are my failures.  Personal success is even easier for me to measure.  It is watching my son grow and develop.  As he continues to learn more words and how to express himself verbally, I feel like a successful parent.  Being a parent is the most important job I have so all my success is measured based on his growth and development.

Hillary Newton, Office Coordinator:
To me, success means that I had the courage to show up as my most authentic and perfectly imperfect self. It means that I am ready and willing to learn and to be vulnerable. Success to me, means that I was confident, that I tried my absolute best with the information, knowledge, experience, and skills I had – regardless of the results. It also means the resilience to reassess and try again. In life, both professionally and personally, we often think of success and results to be synonymous. Personally, redefining what success means has been so empowering and allowed me to truly tap into the joy, creativity, and sense of self-agency that compliment not only success, but the process and journey of getting there.

Kristin Prince, Executive Assistant | Corporate Secretary:
Working at Gulf Coast Community Foundation is a privilege that I charge myself to earn every day.  For me, success at work means showing up as a respectful and authentic member of a team, with honesty, humor, and gratitude.  All work can be hard, stressful, tiring, and, frustrating, and everyone in this world is more than an employee, with unseen burdens and worries as part of their life.  Any time that I can help my team, our Board, or member of my community to navigate any problem to a productive outcome - that feels like success to me.

Rachel Denton, Marketing and Public Relations Associate:
For me, success means many things. It can mean giving my all to a work project and recognizing the accomplishment with a smile on my face. It can mean uplifting my fellow colleagues and showing them how much I appreciate them. It can also mean taking care of myself and taking it easy when needed. I try to honor all measures and levels of my success, even the smallest ones, as they are stepping stones to future achievements in my life.