Redefining Success - November 29

As Liz sits on a rock on Dartmoor, soaking up the autumn sun, she realises there’s nowhere else she’d rather be — and in that moment, that is success. In today’s 5 Minutes In Nature, you’re invited to pause and reflect on how your understanding of success has evolved, and what it looks like for you right now.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott and if you can hear a little bit of a panting beside me that's a neighbor's dog that I'm taking up for a walk up on Dartmoor. Oh there we go she's just just had a little sniff of the microphone and this is a glorious day. Goodness me, Where to start? The sun is quite low in the sky and it's a blue sky with little clouds white clouds in it and as I look towards the south my eyes can't actually take in the brightness because the sun is glinting off the sea and it's so bright it's so bright I can't actually focus on it I'm squinting my eyes looking down towards the ocean and we've had quite a few days of mild wet grey damp stormy weather and when we get a day like today where the sun is out it's cooler it feels more seasonal and the moorland was calling me and as a bonus my neighbor wanted her dog walking today so I said I'll take your dog out for a walk. To me this is perfect walking on Dartmoor with a dog sitting on a rock soaking up the sun and just feeling extraordinarily blessed in my life and as I was walking with a dog I began to reflect on success. What is success? For many years success as I was working and first of all in the media I worked for the BBC and success for me would have been about being a television presenter and that that didn't work out and I worked in radio and I thought maybe I could be a radio presenter and I never became a radio presenter I was always a reporter and then I became a coach and success then shifted and it was like who might I work with how many clients might I have what might I charge for my coaching so that I could be perceived as successful in the world of coaching. On each occasion that I've looked for success and imagined it to be one way success hasn't turned up in the way that I had originally imagined and now as I sit on this rock on the moorland looking at the trail of aeroplanes in the sky the white trail of aeroplanes there white puffy clouds there's a herd of cattle grazing across the brook my little friend the Labrador who is sniffing and just delighting in all the smells that she can smell is having a whale of a time I just think this is what success is. If I could choose to be doing anything in the world right now anything this would be it sitting on a rock on Dartmoor feeling the warmth of the autumnal Sun on my face with a dog having been for a walk it's like life doesn't get any better than this and what I realized moving forward is that I'm really relieved that my measure of success has changed my ideas of success when I wanted to be a television or radio presenter was I wanted people to respect me for the job I did when I wanted to be a successful coach with maybe high-paying clients that was because I wanted my fellow coaches to see me as success and today for me success is different it's just about being outside being in nature with a mind that isn't busy feeling the land seeing the animals in the landscape and just feeling that life is spacious and slow life doesn't get any better than this for me and so today I want you to reflect on what success looks like for you really think about it what is success for you what would be the kind of life and experience you want to live I would love to know your thoughts on what success means to you what it looks like and I'd also love to know whether you too yearn for that simplicity feel a draw for a life that is slow being out in nature and just soaking up the joy of being alive I'd love to know what success looks like for you

Reviews

Thank you, Liz. This morning ‘success’ was watching the beautiful sunrise. The clouds were changing shades of pink, orange, grey and blue. I felt so peaceful and in the moment. Success for me is realizing that moments like this are always available whatever the circumstances are. Just sit and be.

Congrats on your success Liz! I too desire a more simple life, and to some degree I have achieved it. But I still feel a part of me looking around for a missing piece, a feeling of incompleteness. A good place to start would be inside me…and in this moment. Thanks Liz. 😇

Sounds like a pretty perfect day…..up on a rock in the warm autumn sun with a dog enjoying the view and the peace. A pretty successful day all round.

Over the last few years I’ve been working towards a slower, more meaningful life so I found this extremely relatable. Thank you Liz 🙏🏽💕

I'm totally with you on this Liz. My measue of success has shifted from validation to satisfaction. I feel successful when I do the things I love doing (healthy movement, healthy food, healthy connections) and right now I have all these things 🙏🏼