Webster doesn’t know everything. Some words can’t be defined by a dictionary. Rather they are defined by our values, ethos, and principles. We asked hidden gems from the community about how they define success and have shared their responses below.

Krista Hovsepian | Actress & Content Creator

Success to me is changeable, moment to moment. It’s the measure of: am I feeling expansive, joyful, whole, and free in this present moment here and now? Because the present moment is the only thing that’s real. If we’re constantly focusing on getting to some place in the future so that we can rest and go, “Ah, now I’m a success,” we’ll never actually get there. Because the future soon becomes the present-now, and then we find ourselves chasing an entirely knew future. I think that’s why so few people feel satisfied or fulfilled. We’ve become a culture – maybe a species – that’s utterly obsessed with what comes next. We’re not only always jumping ahead to the next thing in our own minds (and the anxiety and fear we attach to it all), but the moment we start to wrap up one project or relationship, it’s common for other people to start asking us, “So, what’s next?”. We don’t value stillness, integration, or the ability to just be. Read more>>

Michelle Gomez | Author, Speaker & Life and Career Coach

Living the life that is most in alignment with your personal growth, today. We all grow and evolve over the seasons of life, so when I coach my clients to “success”, I start by checking in with their true needs and wants. So many times, expectations and strong opinions can come in our direction; making it difficult to decipher our own voice from that of society’s. Success is applying your time, energy, talent and skill into the life and career you would feel most fulfilled in. Read more>>

Adam T. Newman | Children’s Book Author

I always give my all when writing a book or performing to children. I am extremely passionate about what I do and take pride in knowing it reflects in my work. Success is not automatically given to you, but it is something you work hard at achieving. I do not define success by how much money you make or how many copies of books you sell. Those are all admirable achievements, don’t get me wrong, but I define success by seeing if I was able to bring my idea to life, from concept to creation. To me, being able to hold a newly published book in my hand is success. That along with receiving positive reviews and praises from teachers, parents and their children, selling many copies of my books and continuing to be asked to perform at schools and events. That tells me that I am successful and I have succeeded. Read more>>

Timothy Riese | Director of Photography

My definition of success has changed over time. I attribute that to life experiences and growing professionally and personally. Initially to me, success was defined as becoming the Director of Photography of high budget studio feature films. At the beginning of my career I decided I would follow the path and take every opportunity that presented itself. I found myself shooting a lot of commercials for tourism boards in tropical places, shooting for clients like Disney on their cruise ships and working with fabulous producers year after year at annual events for Turner Classic Movie channel. I have also had the opportunity to DP some fully funded independent feature films, so those projects always fulfill me creatively, which is important to me. My definition of success is now bringing in a good income, working on quality projects with good people and maintaining a work-life balance. Read more>>