Public Success, Private Failure

I worry about my balance of public perception and real life.

I don’t want to be someone that makes things seem better than they are and focus on recognition and craving acceptance from others.

I often worry about it because it’s an easy trap to fall into!

In today’s world, it’s a natural trap to compare yourself to others and ask yourself why your private life isn’t more like someone else’s public life. It’s easy to see someone else getting recognition and wonder why you’re not getting the same recognition.

The problem is, none of it really matters.

I enjoyed reading a post from Chris Heller today where he said: “I operated with blind faith that if I got extraordinary results in whatever I was doing, opportunities would show up.”

The most successful people I know focused for years on creating results, not worrying if people noticed.

I believe when you are good at what you do, when you are the best at what you do, the results speak for themselves and the recognition happens.

And if it doesn’t…. who cares?

I’ve had interactions with public success / private failure people. It’s a sad race to run. The problem is; the weight of their perceived success will weigh them down as they know it’s not real (at least most people, some of these influencers thrive on fake success.)

They’re also running an unwinnable race against other peoples fabricated perceived success.

Stop running this race.

I’ve had conversations with people that are feeling down about where they are in their business and life, but they don’t realize they are miles ahead of many of the people that are making them feel like they are not enough!

1. Your P&L is more important than awards, speaking opportunities, and followers. Focus on improving your P&L and your balance sheet. The other stuff comes later.

2. Your physical and mental health need to be prioritized. You can’t be everything you need to be for your family and others if you’re not taking care of yourself.

3. If you have strong relationships with family or friends, or a good marriage, and you can pay your bills every month, you are miles ahead of most.

One thing I did well early was getting inspiration from parts of peoples stories that were useful for me. There’s a difference in being inspired by someone and taking pieces of their journey instead of trying to make their story yours.

I met Sharran Srivatsaa early on in my career and learned a lot, but I never tried to be another version of Sharran, I would make a pretty poor knock off.

There are millions of dollars spent every day getting you to believe you’re not enough, making people feel like they are less than, and providing the “thing” to make them feel whole.

Don’t fall victim to this crap.

Focus on the person in the mirror, not the person on social.

Be yourself, run your race, focus on the things that matter.

Embrace your journey.

Note: this could be terrible advice.

-tim.