Success and personal fulfilment can be two very different questions. What have I achieved? And how do I actually want to live? Both questions come up in my conversations with Johannes Kliesch and Gina Schöler. One speaks from his everyday experience as an entrepreneur. The other invites us to look more closely at our own idea of happiness.
I am particularly interested in the role that other people and personal priorities play. This article brings together perspectives from two episodes. It invites you to expand your definition of success with a few questions.
Johannes Kliesch: who makes visible success possible?
In episode 137, SNOCKS co-founder Johannes Kliesch talks about his wife, Belinda. He describes how her support gives him space to focus on the business. In doing so, he draws attention to a part of his story that can easily receive less attention in public accounts.
The visible person in the interview is the entrepreneur. Yet behind his daily routine are shared arrangements and tasks that others take on. Kliesch makes it clear that he sees his journey in this context. For readers, this raises an interesting question: whose contribution might be too invisible in my own success story?
He also talks about sharing knowledge and experience. His view is that growing together is possible. The same idea appears here too: entrepreneurship takes place within relationships — with partners, employees and other businesses.
Explore the conversation with Johannes Kliesch in episode 137 (German) →
Gina Schöler: happiness after the next milestone
In episode 51, Gina Schöler describes the familiar “if–then” way of thinking: only once a goal has been achieved is a break allowed. Only then should the feeling we hope for arrive. In the conversation, she asks what happens when another milestone is already waiting after every achievement.
Her perspective turns our attention to the present. What is already there? What matters to us personally? And how much room does it actually have in everyday life? Gina does not want to prescribe a universal definition of happiness. Instead, she emphasises that people have different needs.
The conversation also covers different areas of life. Family, work, exercise and contributing to society can carry different weights. A balance that feels right does not have to look the same for everyone. Our own ideas can change and need fresh attention from time to time.
Explore the conversation with Gina Schöler in episode 51 (German) →
Considering success and personal fulfilment together
Johannes Kliesch draws attention to the people who help sustain his everyday life. Gina Schöler asks about the yardstick we use to evaluate our lives. These perspectives complement one another: focusing only on the next result may cause us to overlook the people and daily routines that make that result possible.
This is a connection between the conversations, not a shared recipe for success offered by the guests. Every life brings different opportunities and obligations. The interviews are interesting precisely because they open up questions that go beyond revenue figures or titles achieved.
Three questions for your own definition of success
- What do I want to preserve? Which relationships and activities matter to me today, regardless of my next career goal?
- Who helps sustain my everyday life? What support do I receive, and how do I show my appreciation for it?
- What do I keep putting off? Is there something that regularly has to wait until after the next milestone?
A particular person or situation may immediately come to mind when you consider one of these questions. That could become the starting point for a conversation. You may also realise that a goal still matters, but needs to sit more comfortably alongside other areas of life. Answers do not have to be spectacular to reveal something about our priorities.
Explore the conversations further
Success and personal fulfilment remain personal subjects. Johannes Kliesch and Gina Schöler offer insights that can sharpen our awareness of them. In the full episodes, you can hear and read their thoughts in context. The original recordings and linked episode articles are in German.
You can find more entrepreneurial perspectives in the entrepreneurship topic section. For the question of how expectations can change after success, see Dealing with the pressure to succeed.
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