Is it possible to be successful in your career and still have a full and vital life? Is it possible to succeed in an extraordinary way?
We see plenty of ‘successful’ people who are burnt out, lonely, alcoholic, narcissistic, and, in general, miserable. It can seem like you have to sacrifice everything to reach the top.
This project is about an alternative approach to success.
We want to show you how you can have meaningful success in your life. How you can be successful at work whilst still being the person you want to be. How you can be successful at work whilst still having vibrant relationships with the people you love.
We want to find out how to have meaningful success, so over the course of the next year, we will be travelling the world interviewing people who:
- Have achieved success in their career due to their own efforts
- Demonstrate a sense of purpose and vitality in their work
- Demonstrate pro-sociality (they want to benefit others through their actions)
- Have healthy relationships with others, and,
- Care for their own psychological and physical wellbeing
The Interviews
We want to discover how these inspiring people achieved meaningful success, what they learned from the journey to success and what they would do differently if they could do it again.
Excerpts from the interviews will be posted here from time to time.
We will be asking questions such as:
- What strengths did you have that helped you to succeed?
- What were your most difficult moments? How did you handle them? How did you handle fear and self-doubt?
- What inspired you to succeed? (What did you care about? What did you want to stand for in the world?)
- If you could travel back in time and talk to your younger self – what would you want to say? Any particular advice, warnings or encouragement?
- What do you think are the biggest myths about success?
We are hoping to get some extraordinary answers to these important questions.
The Science Behind The Project
Our analysis of the information from our interviewees will draw on both current academic literature on career success and the growing science in contextual behaviorism and positive psychology.
The Authors
Professor Joseph Ciarrochi is a highly successful scientist, author, and public speaker. He has recently won an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2011-2014), which recognizes him as one of the top scientists in the country. He has over 70 peer-reviewed scientific publications and eight books. In evidence of his international reputation, Joseph has been named chief editor of the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science and has been elected president of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science.
Rachel Collis – This project draws on Rachel’s training as a psychiatrist and her extensive knowledge of business success.
Patrick Self is the photographer for the project. He is Rachel’s son and very talented. Check out his work here.
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