Make certain that your job contributes to the quality of your lifestyles, not just the monitory means to provide you to enhance other parts of it.
Have you ever noticed how often we equate success with more? Whether that’s more products, more profits, more activities or more accomplishments, we buy into the belief that we have to do more to have more to be more. And that will sum up to success. And then along comes The Great Resignation. Where employees are signaling that the “more” that’s being offered — even more pay, more perks, and more PTO — isn’t summing up to success for them. We visited with leaders who are redefining what success means now. Their answers might surprise you.
As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Yuvi Alpert.
Yuvi was part of the first class of The Council on Fashion Design of America Fashion Incubator in 2010. He launched Men in Cities in 2012, an online lifestyle accessories brand. And in 2016, created the brand Noémie to bring a better customer experience to the fine jewelry industry.
Thank you for making time to visit with us about the topic of our time. Our readers would like to get to know you a bit better. We all have myths and misconceptions about success. What are some myths or misconceptions that you used to believe?
Like many people, my belief about success was about creating a product or business, and then having it become popular and benefit me financially. I rarely took into consideration other factors. It was a straight means to end approach, where my career was solely meant to provide the lifestyle that I envisioned. It was segmented away from the rest of my life.
How has your definition of success changed?
My idea about success has greatly morphed. Now to me, success represents relishing in the challenges that my business creates, rather than just seeing them as obstacles to overcome. I find reward in challenging my thinking, and seeing how far outside the box I can push myself, while still remaining advantageous to my customers and business.
The pandemic, in many ways, was a time of collective self-reflection. What changes do you believe we need to make as a society to access success post pandemic?
I believe we need to become more in touch with the hands-on. One of the things I love about my business, it that there is this sense of craftmanship to it. In many ways, the digital world has left a void in the physical aspect of creating or experiencing something. The pandemic forced us more into that world, and I believe, we need to find ways to get in touch with the physical world around us, both in our work and in our outside lives.
What do you see as the unexpected positives in the pandemic? We would love to hear a few of your stories or examples.
I believed, like most of us, that the lockdown was going to force an uncomfortable isolation, and it did. But what I was not expecting was how it provided a time for reflection and re-evaluation of my priorities. I began to look at my life, almost as an outside observer, peering in at my world. As time went by, I realized all the things that I was not emphasizing, that I should be. It gave me a new appreciation for all those daily experiences I took for granted, and reinvigorated my desire to appreciate the small things.
We’re all looking for answers about how to be successful now. Could you please share “5 Ways To Redefine Success Now?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
Here are my ways to redefine success.
- Relish the experience of the challenge, not simply look for ways to conquer it.
- Make certain that your job contributes to the quality of your lifestyles, not just the monitory means to provide you to enhance other parts of it.
- Accept that life is difficult, and success can be found in how you get through each day.
- Focus on each small accomplishment.
- Measure success in the relationships you create with others.
How would our lives improve if we changed our definition of success?
Anxiety is often caused by projecting to the future, instead of the looking at the benefits of where we are now. If we focused on the benefits of our entire experience and how it got us to where we are now, we would lessen our stress, anxiety, and lead a more fulfilling life.
What’s the biggest obstacle that stands in the way of our redefined success? And what advice would you offer about overcoming those obstacles?
The biggest obstacle to success is trying to control the future. No one can control people, places, or things, and it is those constant efforts in attempting to do so that makes us miserable. My whole philosophy is based in accepting that there are going to be difficulties, and instead of dreading those, approaching them with enthusiasm as a part of the benefit, rather than things to be avoided. By embracing our fears and failures, they eventually lose our control over us, and cease being barriers of our own creation.
Where do you go to look for information and information about how to redefine success?
I enjoy reading biographies on people who have faced far greater challenges than I have, as my sources on how to redefine success. Ron Chernow is a wonderful biographer and I get a great deal of information just from the stories he tells of the people he profiles. I also received a great amount of valuable information from Napoleon Hill’s book, “How to Own Your Mind”.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He, she or they might just see this if we tag them.
I am a big fan of the work of Ai Weiwei. I find his sculptures and artwork fascinating, and the story of what he has had to overcome, inspirational.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
People can learn more about my company at — https://www.hellonoemie.com/
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this. We wish you continued success and good health.