Victoria Bauman on Success, Comparison & Self-Esteem

Victoria Bauman is an awesome woman I connected with while traveling in Bali! Part of her story is in my new book It’s the Awkwardness for Me. Her story is so amazing that I wanted to share an extended version of the interview with you!

How do you define success?

In the past, I defined my success as a very specific milestone. I needed to have an impact in my work, earn a certain amount of money, and receive a certain amount of recognition. That was how I defined success. I used that standard as a marker if I was doing enough.

In the past three years, I hit all of those goals. I have been extremely successful in my work and I still feel the same as I did before. Now I’ve made new markers and I’m like, wait a second... is that how it’s going to be with my whole life? Just making new standards and running towards them?

I’ve really slowed down these past few months and asked myself what it means to be successful. I’ve decided success for me is being able to wake up every morning with love in my heart for myself. I have enough love to overflow so that I could be walking down the street and smile at every stranger. Success is showing up every single day to love and to not sprint towards specific milestones.