Episode: 556

Episode Title: Who You Are At Work

Is true success at work defined by your salary, your status, or something a little less tangible? Let’s talk about it, next on The Perna Syndicate.

Ep 556 show:

Welcome to a new week on The Perna Syndicate! I’m your host, Mark Perna. Do you ever stop and think about how much of our lives we spend working? When you add it up, we spend about a third of our lives on the job. That’s an astonishing amount of time—especially if you spend it bored or stressed out. 

For many of us, the results we experience at work have a big impact on whether we feel successful or not. But what if achieving impactful results isn’t about what you do? What if it’s actually more about who you are when you’re doing it? 

I recently connected with Dr. Alan Patterson on why we need to redefine success in the workplace. It turns out that there are many, many people who are unhappy in their jobs. Part of the solution, Patterson believes, is to rethink what success looks like.

To boil down his view, true success is engaging with interesting and interested people in something that is meaningful to you and to them. Success should be measured by deep-seated, personal motivation, not external criteria like more money, a higher position, a longer title, or more prestige.

If I’m going to spend a third of my life working, it seems silly to endure a job I hate just to gain external markers of success. I think it’s true: authentic success is not so much what you do, but who you are.  

This week, we’re going to talk about why more people should lean into this visionary take on success—especially on this side of the Great Resignation. See you tomorrow on the next episode of The Perna Syndicate!