Lately, I've been putting a lot of thought into what it means to be successful.

With the world around me, both personally and widely, going into a freefall tailspin, and the fluctuating life of being a working creative in a late-stage, free-market capitalism hellscape, it's far too easy to get discouraged and worry about how "successful" I am. It doesn't help that when a good portion of people find out I'm a writer, they ask some variation of, "Are you successful at it?" I'm pretty sure the underlying question they really want to ask is, "Are you a bestseller?" From a capitalist outlook, I'm more successful some months than others.

But this musing isn't about the ups and downs of being a hustling creative.

I'm interested in exploring an alternative way to look at success.

Yesterday I went for a walk to ponder how to fix an issue with a TV pilot I'm working on, and hope to sell for big capitalism success points. In between one step and another, my brain shifted to what I might write today for Monday Musing. Then, I thought about Children in Trees. Then, I thought about the pilot. Then, I thought about a comic I pitched to a good buddy back in 2018 at San Diego Comic Con. Then, I thought I should reach out to him about it because, of course, I need another big project on my plate right now. Then, I thought about things to play with in the next draft of the short story I posted to Patreon on Saturday. Then, I went back to thinking about Monday Musing, as it was the most time-sensitive of all the things floating around in my brain.

I pondered what I might ponder for today. That pondering led me to thinking about all the work I've been doing this month to boost my Patreon memberships, and the capitalism devil on my shoulder kept whispering, "With all your hard work, you should be more successful than this. Maybe it's time to go back to being a janitor." And all that got me a bit mopey about the whole hustling creative thing.

BUT THEN......!

I remembered a quote by Earl Nightingale, "Success is really nothing more than the progressive realization of a worthy goal."

Remembering that quote lifted me up. I'm constantly working toward the goal of writing -- I suppose also of being a writer and a writing educator. (Check this earlier post for the difference between writing and being a writer.) I write pretty much every day. I'm continuously studying new perspectives on writing and encouraging others to deepen their understanding of writing. I hand out pep talks as often as I see people needing them. Mostly, I settled into the knowledge that I keep writing, I keep putting what I write into the world, people keep reading what I write, and sometimes I hear about how much my work means to them.

By Earl Nightengale's definition, I'm a successful writer.

But I have a bit to add to that. One of my favorite proverbs comes from ancient China: Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still. To me, this pairs perfectly with Nightengale's definition of success. I've written several books -- novels, poetry, short story collections, and nonfiction -- just by putting one page a day into a journal. Slowly, progressively, I'm moving day by day, sentence by sentence, into my success in writing. Maybe even being a successful writer.

This outlook isn't limited to writing. I've talked about it through the lens of writing and being a writer because that's the centerpiece of my world right now. However, this perspective can apply to anything, any career, any hobby, any tedious chore that you'd rather not be doing. After I get done with this post, I'm going to slowly and progressively, day by day, work at successfully straightening up my workspace. Do I expect to immediately keep it immaculate forevermore? Nah. But little by little, slowly and surely, I'll make progress -- and progress is success.

What does success mean to you? What steps are you taking to progressively realize your goals? Let me know in the comments so I can cheer you on!