Defining Success: Robin DeMarco
Robin DeMarco is a Lifestyle and Business Coach and Consultant who helps professionals design strategies to maximize their personal lives and achieve their career potential. Prior to receiving her certification in coaching with IPEC, she led a successful professional career as the Executive Luxury Director for Condé Nast at WIRED.
Robin has been interviewed regularly on Fox 5 News and you can also find her via podcasts, blogs and articles for tips around stress management, goal setting, and managing up and within the workplace from the likes of Glamour, Style Bistro, Skilled Up, Birchbox, and College Fashionista. She was also a contributor for Women’s Health Magazine where she participated in a National Media Tour (with outlets ranging from The Huffington Post to NPR), offering key tips for a healthier and balanced lifestyle.
Robin’s a passionate traveler who has lived and studied in London, Spain and Australia. Presently, she lives in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.
How do you define success?
Being content, at peace and present in your day-to-day. Living a balanced and inspired life where you are constantly growing and making a difference.
How do you measure your own success?
Since starting my own business, the meaning of success has taken on a very different form. Given I was in sales for over 12 years before launching my company, success was a very measurable and tangible goal-oriented metric often tied to numbers. Both the money and salary were great but I was a constant stress-case and was forced to take a step back and reevaluate what was really important to me. As a coach, I now feel most successful when I see my clients making positive changes in their own lives - that for me is the constant reminder that I’m doing what I should be doing regardless of the challenges that come up when running your own business. I have always had a tendency to put others first yet I’ve realized to be truly successful, it’s key that I also focus on my own growth as an individual and entrepreneur.
How does success feel?
Like a sense of endless possibility — and that you are exactly where you should be.
When was the last time you felt successful? What happened?
If I were to pick a particular instance, I recently had one of my very first clients reach out to me out of the blue thanking me for our work together years ago and highlighting all the areas and things that have come to fruition in his life since we last spoke – now that was awesome!
How do you celebrate your success?
The word “success” can often be tied to a lot of anxiety and although we may not be aware of it, we have little successes every day whether it be making a friend laugh or holding the door open for a random stranger who is have a shit day. I also think truly celebrating success ties back to living in the present - something I’m constantly working on as well.
For those instances where I have a really productive day or have put a lot of work and time into something, I’ll often reward myself by keeping it simple whether that be hanging out with the people I love or getting a Qigong massage, going to dance class or watching mindless TV and not feeling guilty about it.
What advice would you offer to someone who wants to be successful?
I’d try to look outside of what’s society’s conventional measures of success are and focus on the what’s really important to you.
Finally, whereas a little grit goes a long way in achieving success (whatever that definition is for you), it’s also important to remain mindful, balanced and compassionate along the way.
Arianna Huffington sums it up perfectly in her book Thrive. “Have you noticed that when we die, our eulogies celebrate our lives very differently from the way society defines success?” She then goes onto say, “Our eulogies are always about the other stuff: what we gave, how we connected, how much we meant to our family and friends, small kindnesses, lifelong passions, and the things that made us laugh.”
CONNECT WITH ROBIN:
Twitter: @coachedbyrobin | Website: coachedbyrobin.com