By Sandy Chambers
Success has a PR problem.
On paper, it looks like receiving the title, earning the raises, collecting the accolades—maybe even an invitation to give a TED Talk.
But behind the scenes, in the quiet moments no one posts about, it often looks very different: burnout, emotional disconnection, loneliness, and health breakdowns.
I call it being successfully unsuccessful.
When Achievement Costs Too Much
I was producing, achieving, and providing—but doing it from an outside-in lifestyle. My self-worth was tied to my net worth, my approval ratings, and my ability to hold everyone else’s world together.
I was a very successful in the Hospitality Industry for 30 years and did not connect that my “people pleasing” value centered game was really the source of my declining health, and burnout.
The game I was winning had a name: high-functioning codependency.
High-Functioning Codependency
A false success built on the shifting tides of what others deem valuable in the moment.
It’s the grind you can’t quit because it’s tied to your identity. It’s not the stereotypical “can’t-get-out-of-bed” struggle—you get up, jolt yourself with coffee, and steamroll into the to-do list and the endless parade of meaningless meetings.
- You’re the CEO who hasn’t taken a full weekend off in five years because “the business needs me.”
- You’re the top performer who says yes to every project because “I don’t want to let the team down.”
- You’re the family anchor who quietly carries everyone else’s emotional load, telling yourself “this is just what love looks like.”
From the outside, you’re crushing it.
On the inside, you’re quietly bleeding out—death by a thousand cuts.
The Old Scoreboard Is Rigged
This is the cost of measuring success by external markers—bank accounts, public image, applause—while ignoring the internal scoreboard.
Net worth isn’t wrong to track, but it’s incomplete.
Titles, money, and public praise are temporary highs; they can’t measure whether you’re actually living a healthy life.
And the data is clear:
- 77% of professionals report experiencing burnout in their current job (Deloitte).
- Burnout leads to a 68% drop in productivity and makes employees 2.6x more likely to seek a new role (Workplace Intelligence & Gallup).
- The cost to businesses? An estimated $322 billion annually in lost productivity and turnover (World Health Organization).
The old scoreboard keeps people in survival mode. It rewards performance without asking if you’re running in a healthy, sustainable direction. It has no metric for joy, peace, or connection.
Flipping the Script
At YDBG, we’ve changed the rules:
Principle over Values. Being Centered over performance.
That’s where the YDBG Trust App comes in.
Your New Scoreboard: Self-Trust
The YDBG Trust App is your real-time self-trust measurement tool—a personal Performance Capacity (PC) scoreboard.
It doesn’t judge; it tracks the deposits you make into yourself. Registering these deposits builds self-trust and helps you see exactly where you’re living from the inside-out versus the outside-in.
Self-worth isn’t success outsourced to likes, sales, or someone else’s opinion.
Self-trust is built by consistently depositing into yourself—then tracking those deposits so you can watch your connection to your true worth grow.
The Payoff of a Healthy Scoreboard
Choosing healthy lifestyle priorities and living in balance isn’t a side project—it’s the foundation for a life connected to love, peace, and joy.
When you’re not running on fumes, your performance improves naturally—because you’re creating from a place of power, not depletion.
If your current scoreboard makes you rich in money but poor in health and peace, it’s time to change the game. Upgrade to a scoreboard of building Trust: where love, accountability, and balance create the real wins.
Because the true measure of success isn’t just what you build—it’s who you become while you’re building it.
