The ongoing Andrew Tate case has highlighted a particularly nasty corner of social media where overly macho culture is celebrated and seen as desirable and successful.
We see similar in business on LinkedIn posts with people, almost exclusively men, sharing their grinding daily routine for success usually including early starts, exercise, healthy eating, achieving various business goals daily etc.
Financial services isn’t immune from this macho culture either. I often see posts on social media extolling early starts, #5amclub, writing down daily goals, having a one-year and five-year business plan and #smashingit. Usually accompanied by a ‘look at me, look at my business, see how successful and brilliant I am’ comment or picture.
The implication, not subtle, is that if you want to be successful then you have to do that too.
Don’t get up at #5am – failure.
Don’t exercise daily – failure.
Don’t have at least two successful meetings every day – failure.
If you aren’t #smashingit on your plan or goals – ultimate failure.
If that is what it takes for them to be successful, good luck to them. Me? I’d rather be happy. None of that would make me happy, in fact it would all make me miserable.
Getting up at 5am also makes me grouchy. I’m not built that way, my body clock doesn’t function like that. I’m terrible in a morning, even after my (naughty, failure me) black coffee. Afternoons and evenings I’m at my best, that’s why I’m typing this at 7pm.
You know what, you do you.
Find what makes you happy and work out a plan to achieve that, find out what happens in your business to get to that. It might actually be doing less and having more time outside work to do fun stuff.
Not everyone gets their buzz out of growing a business or commercial success, don’t let others make you think you are a failure if that’s not you. You are being successful, just in your own way and defining your own version of what success is and how you get there.
If I had my way you would look up success in the dictionary and the definition should be one word. Happiness. That might be taking your kids to school, being able to support their hobbies or sports, having lunch with your partner, or even an afternoon off for the odd game of golf.
Find your happiness and hold onto it and you will be the most successful person you know. Even if you don’t get up until #8amclub.
Darren Cooke is a chartered financial planner at Red Circle Financial Planning
