What does success look like?

Brooklyn Beta was a lovely conference for five years running. My favourite part of the conference was the time between sessions where I could talk to all the great people in attendance. When BB announced a Reunion meetup, I jumped at the chance. Yes, I hopped on a plane, and rented a nice AirBnB place to spend a few hours with thoughtful people.

I was not disappointed. (I was hungover but that’s another story.)

As I walked in the door of the Royal Palms, we were asked to fill out name tags. Along with our name, we were to write down what we’d like to talk about.

My question: “What does success look like?”

And so I asked people that very question throughout the evening.

Some people didn’t have an answer. (I don’t.) Some people would shift their focus of what they work on. Others would stop working altogether.

There’s some appeal to playing video games, watching movies, and really just doing what I want when I want. I’d still want to do something, though, and without the constraint of needing to pay the bills, I fear that there would be little to push me to actually get anything done. (Few people want to do the last 20%.)

So, I pose this question to you, dear reader: What does success look like to you? What do you do once you have it?