A Different Way of Looking at Success

If you resolved to be a better leader in 2024, this is the time of year when you might find yourself slipping back into old behaviors. According to research, only 20% of people manage to keep their New Year’s resolutions past February. I’ve never been much of a resolution-maker, but every year I renew my commitment to a practice that I call “total life success,” and I encourage my teams to do the same. In fact, we believe in this concept so strongly at Saatva that we’ve made it a core company value.

True success is never one-dimensional: it’s never just about money, or just about family, or just about personal passions. In order to really succeed in work and life, you need a combination of all three. It’s my job as a leader to make sure that I support the people who work for me in their efforts to live a well-balanced life, even if it sometimes takes attention away from their jobs. In the long run they become more productive and happier people, which in turn makes them better employees. Here’s why.

You never know where inspiration will strike. As a business leader, I can tell you that my best ideas never come when I’m sitting behind a desk. It’s more often when I’m connecting with people outside the office and opening myself up to discussion and debate that I get those “aha” moments. I could be talking to someone who’s 22 or someone who’s 72, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I really listen to the other person and expose myself to different points of view. That’s when inspiration happens.

Focus is fleeting. When you run a business or have a stressful job, you look for those times when you can take your mind off it. Exercising and playing sports does that for me. I try to sweat at least four times a week. For those hours when I'm sweating and being active, I’m not thinking about work. Regardless of how my body feels afterwards, my head feels amazing. I come back refreshed and ready to focus again, and I am able to work at an even higher level. For someone else that activity might be dancing or even losing themselves in a good book, but you can’t sustain peak performance without making time for mental breaks. 

Happiness is made up of base hits, not home runs.  In my opinion the key to happiness is in the small, everyday things: hanging out with friends and family, watching a movie, playing Scrabble, going to lunch with colleagues. If you think of happiness as one big goal you need to swing for, it’s too easy to feel disappointed. Work, parenting, relationships, money, laughter, competition, hobbies—I want the total package. The balance of those things is going to be different for each person, of course, but if you embrace the concept of total life success for yourself—and, more important, make it your job to help those around you achieve their own personal version of it—you’ll have a more energized, more inspired, and happier team.

- Ron Rudzin, Saatva Founder and CEO