How do YOU define Success?

 If you’re like me … some days you can see you’re hitting your mark – we call that ‘progress’ or ‘success.’

And some days you don’t. You feel like you’re slogging or stuck — or stuck slogging – and you’ve lost the thread of action.  You don’t know what will make a difference for YOU so that YOU can make a difference in the world. On those days you watch people who seem to be successful and wonder what they have that you don’t.

So I was thinking: What if I looked for other words – other than ‘success’? And .. what the heck … let’s make them all start with S.

So I present to you, my new “S” words: spirit, support, skills, structure, systems … and sexy.  Yup. Sexy. I haven’t worked out where that fits yet — but I’m full of hope about it — including the hope that, after you read this, you can tell me where it fits!

Where do each of these things fit – in taking everything you are – all the rich potential and experience – and have it working every day to power you and the difference you want to make in the world?

Here they are – and I’d love your thoughts on these:

1. Skills – are the how-to’s – from simple skills, like how to effectively plant a seed in a garden to more complex skills, like how to play an arpeggio on the harp – or how to bend a note to make a harp sound like a guitar

2. Structures – are like Blueprints, checklists, jazz charts — a structure helps you see the whole – it’s not an action-plan, but a way of understanding, embracing, understanding & experience the whole of something

3. Systems – is where skills and structures meet action – where a structure begins to move, to operate.

4. Support – community, coaching – a place to go when things stop moving, a place to share what helped them start moving again, a way to ask questions, to find partner for exploring or committing new adventures in developing those skills, structures & systems

5. Spirit – well, this is at the heart, isn’t it? The point of all the rest is to empower and ignite your spirit, to open the door for that spirit to enter the world and make a difference

As I made the list I realized two things:

1. This list is why I’ve always worked with mentors, always try to work with buddies, am always in some kind of coaching program,always work to develop systems, skills, structures for myself — and …

2. This is why I built my Academy for Harp Players the way I did: teaching skills, creating simple pictures of the structures of music – and creating systems to support people in systems that combine those skills with structure so that it releasing their spirit — so that spirit shines and is EXPRESSED – through music, story, performance. So that I see the TRUTH of that person in a way I never have before.

Because that’s what moves me – and the difference I want to make with the people I coach.  And in performance – that’s the part of me I want to share — because that makes a difference for people who come to a performance.

When you have a system of learning skills you can apply to creative structure, and you have support to do that — you will have creativity.

Add spirit, and you are expressing yourSELF. And when you truly express yourSELF you are making a difference in the world.

When you have a system of learning skills you can apply to creative structure, and you have support to do that — you will have creativity. Share on X

How are you doing that in your own life?

If you’re a harp player, join me at Hip Harp Academy to get the skills, structures, systems & support – and bring your spirit! 

And whether or not you play harp – join me in the conversation – live, at one of my shows or at my Facebook page, or right HERE in the comments of this blogpost!

How do those things fit together for you and where does that help you make a difference in your life – and where do you want to make that difference?

And if you know how sexiness fits into this — I’m all ears!