Beyond The Office is a podcast hosted by Jerard Johnson that explores the conversations people often avoid but need most.
Through honest discussions, personal stories, practical insights, and occasional guest interviews, we examine life beyond careers, job titles, and expectations. From leadership and personal growth to relationships, resilience, purpose, community, and navigating life's transitions, each episode is designed to challenge perspectives and encourage meaningful growth.
Whether you're a professional building your career, a veteran transitioning into a new chapter, a leader seeking greater impact, or someone searching for purpose beyond success, Beyond The Office provides real conversations rooted in authenticity, experience, and insight.
Expect thoughtful discussions, occasional humor, and actionable takeaways that help you grow personally, professionally, and spiritually.
Topics Include:
• Personal Growth • Leadership & Influence • Relationships & Family • Career Development • Life Transitions • Mental Resilience • Community & Culture • Veteran Experiences • Purpose & Legacy • Success Beyond Titles
Real Conversations. Deep Perspectives. Lasting Impact.
What happens when you accomplish the things you once prayed for… but still find yourself wondering, “Is this really success?”
In this episode of Beyond The Office, I take a deeper look at what success actually means—and how easy it is to measure our lives by someone else’s timeline.
We chase degrees, careers, money, homes, relationships, recognition, and titles believing that once we get there, we’ll finally feel successful. But sometimes you reach the milestone and realize the feeling you expected never came.
So maybe the question isn’t, “Am I successful?”
Maybe it’s, “Whose definition of success have I been living by?”
We talk about comparison, accomplishments, setbacks, starting over, gratitude, purpose, and learning to recognize the progress we often overlook while chasing the next thing.
Because comparison can have you disrespecting a life you once prayed for.
🎙️ Beyond The Office Podcast Real conversations about life, people, culture, and growth.
Impact starts with insight.
If this episode makes you think about success differently, share it with someone who needs the reminder—and ask yourself:
Have you ever accomplished something you spent years trying to achieve? And then you finally got there and thought, okay, now what? We spend so much of our lives chasing success, the degrees, the careers, the promotion, the house, the relationships, the money, the title, and somehow along the way we're taught that once we collect enough of those things, we're supposed to feel successful. But what happens when you get some of the things you pray for and you still don't feel like you arrived? Or even worse, what happens when you accomplish things other people consider successful, but you're still trying to figure your life out? That's what we're talking about today. What does success actually look like? Welcome back to Beyond the Office. I'm Gerard, and here we talk about life, growth, perspective, and everything that happens when the title comes off. And today's conversation is personal because I have had to redefine success more than once in my life. I've had periods where on paper things look good. Now I served in the military. I've gone to college. I've earned degrees. I've worked professionally. I've become a homeowner, and I've definitely traveled. I've accomplished things that a younger version of me probably would have looked at and said, man, you made it. But here's the interesting part. There were still moments where I didn't feel successful. And that made me start asking myself, maybe success isn't a destination. Maybe we've been measuring the wrong thing. Now think about it. Before you even decided what success meant to you, somebody had already given you a definition. You know, like we grew up and all we heard about was the American dream. Family, school, social media, culture, friends, society. Everybody has an opinion. Get a good job. Make good money, buy a house, get married, have children, move up that ladder, get another degree, get another promotion. And none of those things are bad. They're great. The problem comes when we start believing achievement automatically means fulfillment because it really doesn't. You can have a great job and hate waking up every morning to go to it. You can make good money and have no peace with it. You can own a beautiful house and feel absolutely lonely inside of it. You can have letters behind your name and still question whether you are good enough. You can have thousands of followers and still feel invisible. Success on paper and success in your life can be two completely different things. Now, just saying, social media didn't help. Because now we're comparing our behind the scenes to everybody else's highlight reel. You open up Instagram, right? Somebody bought a house. You keep scrolling. Somebody just got married. You keep scrolling again. Somebody's in Bali. Somebody got promoted. Somebody started a business. Someone just made six figures. Meanwhile, you sitting at the crib eating leftovers thinking, damn, am I doing anything with my life? But what you're looking at is a moment. You don't know their whole story. And you definitely don't know how much it cost them to even get that. You don't know what they're struggling with. And you definitely don't know whether they're happy. Yet we use someone else's chapter to judge our entire book. Now, here's something else I've learned. Your definition of success is allowed to change. At twenty, success might mean money. At thirty, success might mean stability. And at forty, success just might mean peace. At another point in your life, success might simply mean having control over your time. And that is okay. We act like changing what we want means we failed. Sometimes it just means that we grew in the moment. The version of who you created, that goal for, may not be the same person who eventually reaches it. And that's something I have experienced myself. There are things I thought would define you military, degrees, careers, job titles, accomplishments. And don't get me wrong, every single thing that I just labeled I am absolutely proud of. But none of them individually answered the question, Who am I? And that actually that part is the reason this podcast is called Beyond the Office. Because eventually the title comes off. The uniform comes off. The workday ends. The resume gets put away. Then who the hell are you? Now, this is the part of the of the episode where success really gets uncomfortable for some. What happens when life doesn't follow the plan? You lose something. A relationship changes. A career changes. You lose your job. Something you spent years building doesn't work anymore. Now what? Did everything before that suddenly become meaningless? Hell nah. But sometimes that's how we think and that's how we treat ourselves. We think I'm starting over, but you're not starting over empty handed. You're starting again with experience. You're starting again with lessons. You're starting again knowing these things the younger version of yourself just didn't know. I started thinking more about this word peace. Because what good is success if maintaining it destroys you? If your definition of success requires you to constantly be exhausted, consciously anxious, constantly having to prove yourself, constantly comparing yourself, then maybe it's worth asking whether that is actually success. And I'm not saying don't be ambitious. Hell, I'm ambitious. I wouldn't be doing none of this if I wasn't. I have goals for this podcast. I have goals for Beyond the Office. I also have goals for my life. And there's nothing wrong with wanting more. But I'm learning that there's a difference between wanting more because you're growing and needing more because you don't believe you're enough. And those are two completely different things. So what does success look like to me now? I think it's becoming more or less about one big accomplishment, and it's more about having choices, having peace, having meaningful relationships, being able to travel and experience life, doing work that means something, being able to help people, having time for yourself, being able to laugh, being able to rest without feeling guilty, being able to look at yourself and say, you know what? I like the person I'm becoming. I don't know. Maybe that's success. Not perfection, not having everything figured out. It's the progress. The purpose. And enough freedom to actually enjoy the life you're working so hard to build. So here is my question for you. And I actually want you to think about this one. If nobody could see your life, what would success look like? No Instagram, no Facebook, no LinkedIn, nobody to impress, nobody to prove wrong, nobody comparing salaries, nobody comparing houses, nobody comparing relationships, just you. What would make you say, you know what? I'm happy with my life. However you answered that question might tell you more about what you're chasing than anything else. Now, success isn't one thing. And I don't think any of us get to define it for somebody else. Maybe you're building a career, maybe you're raising children, maybe you just want to start over. Maybe you want to go back to school. Good luck with that. Maybe you're rebuilding financially. Maybe you're learning how to finally slow down. Maybe you're simply trying to become a better version of yourself. All of those things can count. Don't let somebody else's scoreboard convince you that you are losing the race. Because this timeline is yours. Your definition is yours. And your story is still being written. If somebody from today's conversation made you think differently, send this episode to somebody who might need to hear this. And I want to hear from you. What does success look like to you now? And has that definition changed as you have gotten older? Now, follow beyond the office wherever you're listening or watching. And remember, impact will always start with insight. I'll see y'all later.
