Are you successful on the outside, yet wonky on the inside?

Is striving for perfection, sabotaging your potential?

Look around and we can see that more and more ‘successful people’ feel wonky

This is despite achieving killer job titles, 1000s of followers and spending our hard-earned free-time and cash on mimicking the lifestyles of so-called successful people living their best lives; fantastic careers, up-to-date wardrobes, the best "self-care routines" and gym memberships and our insta-worthy homes and holidays

We’ve made it, haven’t we, so why don’t we feel like we’ve made it?

What's more - when we look at the lives of the so-called successful people who influence and inspire us to do what we do, wear what we wear, spend what we spend - whether on social media or at work - the statistics show that, in truth, these people might also not have their lives quite as worked out as they may appear

Statistics show that CEO’s may be at twice the risk of developing depression than the rest of the population. That 49% of Start-Up entrepreneurs have experienced a mental illness. That 71% of musicians report panic attacks or anxiety while 68% struggle with depression

Why then, when we sort of know that happiness does not lie in this idea of success, do most of us still compare and contrast, strive and sacrifice, even bullying ourselves to the point of burnout - to follow someone else's idea of success and 'best life'?  In truth, this is the same idea of success which we have lived with since the invention of the TV in the 1920s. Comparing our lives with ‘those who have made it’, evidenced either by their social media feed, their job title, or where they go on holiday. Looking gratuitously on when the starry success stories shatter, when marriages fail and companies collapse. It is totally toxic, ultimately unfulfilling and pretty joyless. Yet we Keep. On. Doing. It!

We develop our own ways of numbing the inner whispering, that maybe we are chasing the wrong rainbow. Telling ourselves that ‘as we are so busy and stressed’ we deserve the ‘treat’ of another glass of wine, another scroll through social media, another shopping fix - because otherwise, what’s it all about?  

We sink exhausted into our sofas, emotionally and physically drained by the back to back Zoom meetings, relentless stream of blue dotted emails, and team member requests for ‘just 5 minutes’

We are inwardly triumphant if we skilfully grab 10 minutes to hastily 'do some meditating', read a bedtime story to our 5 year old son, or we manage to genuinely ‘be present’ for our partner whilst they ‘dump’ their day on us. We snuggle deeper into our perfect shade of grey sofa, click our screens to the latest must-see series on Netflix and take a relieved sip of rewarding wine.  And so another day passes. We are successful on the outside, yet wonky on the inside

In truth, we are passengers in the backseats of our own lives

But hold on a minute - if this is true - what are we actually supposed to do about it?

‘If this isn’t success, if this isn’t ‘living my best life’, what am I supposed to do?  How do I, with my 6am starts, my 7pm finishes, my 100 emails a day, my jam-packed, family filled weekends, find 5 minutes to even START to work out an alternative?

So we google it ... our quick google search reveals over 8,8 billion results including videos, articles, books, social media accounts and websites dedicated to helping us live our best life. We turn to Instagram and find the #liveyourbestlife hashtag has clocked more than 3.1m posts

We feel an even greater sense of overwhelm, we pour another glass of wine…

We decide that it is about time we put down our glass of wine, turn off Netflix and start to put together a plan for finding time to focus on ourselves, really ourselves. Not our children, not our partners, not someone else’s idea of who we are, but our own idea of who we are and what our unique, personal idea of success really can be for us

We read… and find the advice is to:

1. Know yourself and what you want
2. Learn to be your authentic self
3. Set your own standards
4. Live aligned to your own standards and desires
5. Keep growing

Ok, so, we take the first point - know yourself and what you want - this makes sense, we vaguely remember the Artistotle quote,

"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”

But HOW do we actually do this? Do we need to give up our jobs? Go on retreats? Find a therapist?  A life-coach? 

Who actually knows? … and so we become stuck … and quite probably return to Netflix and that glass of wine … 

Stop! There is something that can help you become unstuck and start to move forward, and that is where Progressfull™ comes in  

Progressfull™ will help you think through how you can live a life full of progress. An experience with us takes you from feeling overwhelmed and unfulfilled to inspired, energised and on track

We share sparky deep insights and handy transformational tools, usually only accessible for high performance executives, making these available for everybody to use in the real world

Our passion is to help you unlock your personal progress – helping life work for you not against you – from home, to work, to all of your life 

If you would like to discover more about how you can live your life on your own terms, full of progress, guided by your own compass, your true north you can explore the 5 Progressfull™ Principles here

Being progressfull is not easy, but it is worth it. We all have just one life, so we might as well make sure we live our own life, not someone else’s and most importantly, live it well!

As EE Cummings said,

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are”