What is the true definition of success? How do we know when we’ve made it? In a society like ours, this can be such a disorienting question. Because our view of success most readily comes from income and money, we find ourselves grappling with how this works out in real time. It gets very weird very quickly, because we live in a country where a teen YouTube star makes far more than the local district’s best teacher. A pharmaceutical CEO who inflates the price of life-saving drugs makes millions, while a social worker or grassroots activist doing hard and good work on the ground makes pennies. Our national financial values are not aligned. Capitalism can be a big mess. And it can mess with our sense of worth.

So first, a reminder:  you’re worthy. Regardless of what you make, how much you have saved in your bank account, or how much previous generations of your family did or did not help you financially, you are inherently worthy of dignity. You belong here. The world is lucky to have you.

AND you deserve to be paid well for your work. That’s one of the principles of Right Livelihood, after all. It’s not good work for the owner of a company not to pay employees a living wage. You don’t owe the world your free labor. This is especially true if you’re a woman or person of color, who has lived in a society where your gifts have been undervalued and underpaid for far too long. Don’t work for free. It’s beneath you. Make pro bono decisions sparingly and wisely for people or organizations who will treat you with respect and dignity and lift you up. Everything else is a hard no. Clear?

And also: you are not your salary. If you happen to be one of those hard-working people who gets paid far too little, hear this: we appreciate you and the work you do is valuable. Don’t let the paycheck size take that dignity away from you. Fight for a raise. But in the meantime, hold your head up high. You are doing good work. Do not let money be your only marker of success.

Instead, take a wider view of success. Are you content? Do you find joy and purpose in your life and in your work? Are you making time for what matters most to you?

This offers so much more sanity. I should know; I’m a writer! It breaks my heart that a poorly written commercial book will sell millions, while a small independent imprint book that is, on every level, superior in every way, doesn’t take off in the same way. The market is not fair. It does not always dole out prizes well, whether that’s book sales or Oscar/Grammy awards or just plain internal company recognition. You will do good work that goes unnoticed and under-appreciated and I am so sorry. It sucks.

But know this: right livelihood invites you to find dignity in your work, even if the world hasn’t caught up to it yet. If your work brings goodness into the world- whether through fixing plumbing or teaching kids to read or helping people fill out insurance paperwork- you are a success. If your work carries integrity, it is worthy. The end.

The golden archer in the picture above is Sagittarius. Sagittarius is a centaur, half-human, half-horse. She symbolizes the wise integration of heaven and earth. It’s worth contemplating that as a symbol of our own definition of success, too. Where do we point our arrows when heaven and earth, spirit and matter, come together most completely in us?

One last thing: on a national scale, we could use some better alignment of our financial values. As Jim Wallis says, “Budgets are moral documents.” If you want to know what we value as a country, look at where we spend our money. And consider voting this year for people who put our money where your values are.

How can you define success for yourself this year?

This post belongs to my series on practicing the Eightfold Path. You can read all my posts on Right Livelihood here.