Measuring your personal success in the spirit of sustainability
Linking sustainability criteria with your own career development

Recently I worked with Jia Yen Lim, a postgraduate student from Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan. At one point he said how much he is impressed by my profile and experience and then he asked me to learn more about my professional career experiences. That's a difficult question to answer briefly. Therefore, I was happy when I found a post by my colleague Juaneé Cilliers from Sydney who based her post on work by Pieter Kruger. He is a London based clinical psychologist working in elite sport psychology and the chart in the post shows two different models on how success can be measured.
I learned measuring success along the model “Salary and Job Title”. And so, I was happy that my first employment was a well-paid director function right away. However, something was missing and soon I switched to the other model mentioned on the chart as “A Better Measure”. It was not an intentional choice between models. Instead, it developed gradually along with my experience but I am still happy with it.
However, I would like to warn everybody:
Think twice before choosing the presumably “Better Model”.
Here are my reasons:
- The two models are both based on the assumption of equal opportunities, i.e. that in both models you earn enough money to make your living. Well, if you have a low wage job, a family to sustain or other high expenditures the second model may turn out being a challenge too big.
- ‘Liking what you do’ is great but what you like or dislike about a job may change over time. In that case you have three options: a) Keep loving your job in spite of its caveats; b) develop your current job in a way that you fully like it again; or c) you leave it and chose a job you like more. Sounds good but it doesn’t happen by chance. To keep ‘liking what you do’ may require a lot of initiative and perseverance.
- Mental health, physical health and free time are also great but they too require constant attention. I do running since more than 30 years but in a way that my knees are still healthy. I can stay a lot of stress but I need my daily walks. Free time? For stress management it is usually best to take a break but sometimes, I experienced, it is better to solve a problem first and that way to remove the reason for the stress. If well done it contributes to your work life balance but again, it’s needs attention.
- The fact that you chose for yourself the “Better Measure” doesn’t mean that hiring managers are more likely to hire you. You may get their sympathy for your CV, profile and experience. However, where employers are looking for candidates for a job in a competitive environment they may trust more in a more focussed person following the first model. That's not necessary the better decision but it's based on experience of the past and you have to expect that employers still stick to old paths.
In spite of all the above I am a defender of “A Better Measure”. Certainly, the model focussing on "Salary and Job Title" has the advantage of a clear focus - but life doesn’t have that same focus. The “Better Measure” is not better because it is more simple or easy to implement. The opposite may be the case! However, we have only one life and so I’m happy that I have chosen the more complex model. For me, the switching to the "Better Measure" model increased sustainability in my life.
And that’s it: The second model is better because it is more sustainable.
For more posts see Ulrich’s blog “With burning patience”
https://www.ugraute.de/blog-1
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