If Success Isn’t Documented, Is It Still Success?

Existential crisis swirling around purpose.

Photo by Gil Ribeiro on Unsplash. Nazaré, Portugal

Like the ocean, I am a force of nature that reveals new horizons.

I uncovered this as my compelling purpose when I was in a leadership course in 2018. It holds true today, and as with most existential explorations, life continues to offer up ways for me to discover how this “works” in everyday life.

I chose a profession that, ironically, generates immeasurable relationships through what I call True Community Building (online, organically, using social media platforms). The irony is that no matter how much “growth” I generate worldwide, in multiple cultures and online communities, it’s unlikely to be measured in flat business terms. The ROI is in the relationships, and although it can be documented in various ways, it’s traditionally immeasurable in the ways that matter to brands today.

Sure, we can measure vanity metrics on social media. Likes, comments, and shares can be documented. Email open rates, website visits, whatever metrics matter to a brand can be documented, if the brand knows what they care about, and how to measure that. However, the real ROI shows up in the almighty “bottom-line”. And most brands can’t fathom the depth at which prospects and customers relate to them over years, much less measure the value of relationships forged and nurtured with time. How do you measure the ROI of a billboard?
A phone call?
This is the stuff that perplexes brands, even today. Fortunately, we are developing software tools to reveal the return on investment (ROI) in more meaningful ways, and we’re also becoming more aware of how relationships impact business profits.

That wave, though

My husband Corey and I have been watching a series call 100 Foot Wave. It documents the big wave surf scene in Nazaré, Portugal. One episode featured a big wave competition there (2020), and one of the elite surfers,

Andrew “Cotty” Cotton, from the U.K. hit an extraordinary wave, just as a competitor crashed. All the cameras went to that crashed surfer until he was found and brought to land (fortunately, he made it). Sadly, all Cotty ended up with was a still photo of him on the wave. Gut punch for him, to be sure. Watching him hear the news from his friend, Garrett McNamara, that no one had documented his likely record-breaking ride, I welled up with tears.
He seemed demoralized, dejected.

Maybe because he’s a Red Bull athlete/team-mate of my niece, Olympic Bronze Medalist (Tokyo 2020), Nikita Ducarroz, I felt like a Mama Bear, who longed for a different outcome for Cotty. It got me thinking about that existential crisis - if my success isn’t documented, is it still success?

Oooof.

I started wondering how many of us are in the world making glorious and record-breaking impact, without there being any documentation or “proof-of-work”. I suppose it’s all too common. The empath in me wants to solve that for us all. Or at least, reach out to someone like Cotty and say “we see you and you are extraordinary”.

As with most of the conversations I have about this stuff in my own mind, and with friends and family, namely my husband Corey in this case, it all comes back to purpose for me. And I can’t help but bring these life lessons into my business approach.

After writing an International Best-Selling non-fiction book, which is very much documented proof of my “work”, I possess the gift of multiple perspectives around these conversations. While I was writing my book, nearing the finish line, I heeded the suggestion of one of my very first editors, who advised me to continue to ask myself, “Is it worth it?”. So, if no one else knows about my journey and my successes, or at least my milestones and wins, large and small —- is it worth it?

Based on my compelling purpose, it’s been a yes, almost every time.

What is your compelling purpose, and how does it generate what you consider to be success in your own life and business?

That’s a conversation I’m fascinated with. Let’s chat.

I’m right here, as close as your keypad.