Privacy is a cornerstone of success, especially for entrepreneurs and business owners balancing ambitious visions with the daily grind. Throughout my career, one consistent thread among the most successful people, whether startup founders, freelancers, or innovators, is their ability to maintain boundaries that protect their focus, energy, and decision-making. Privacy is not about secrecy but about making intentional choices to safeguard what matters most.
What Successful People Keep Private, and Why
Let’s get straight to it. The secret isn’t about how successful people spend their time but rather how they protect it from unnecessary distractions or external interference. Here are the ten key areas that successful individuals reserve for themselves.
1. Future Plans
They seldom share upcoming moves until they are well underway. Broadcasting intentions too early invites unnecessary input, external judgment, or competition. Whether it's a new product idea or a career change, they prefer to refine their vision without outside disruption. This doesn’t mean holding everything back, but timing when and how you share matters.
2. Financial Details
The specifics of earnings, investments, or debt are kept close. Money comes with emotion, others might compare, criticize, or even exploit this information. Use privacy as a way to filter distractions and make informed decisions grounded in facts, not opinions.
3. Failures in Progress
Mistakes are inevitable, but announcing unresolved struggles can derail confidence among teammates, investors, or clients. Instead, they focus on learning privately and sharing lessons only once solutions have been found. This approach is particularly effective in maintaining trust and credibility.
4. Private Beliefs
Successful people embrace their values, whether philosophical, spiritual, or practical, but don’t shout them from the rooftops. Rather than engaging in heated debates or unsolicited advice-sharing, they let actions speak louder than words.
5. Health and Personal Fitness Goals
Wellness is a deeply individual journey. While they might advocate for self-improvement publicly, the intricacies of routines, challenges, and results remain personal to avoid scrutiny or misplaced comparisons.
6. Sources of Motivation
Whether drawn from historical figures, childhood memories, or internal insecurities, they rarely elaborate on what specifically drives them. These motivators remain private anchors that keep them pushing forward.
7. Family and Relationships
Issues at home or with loved ones are not public domain. Keeping these matters private allows them to protect bonds from misinterpretation, gossip, or unsolicited opinions, reinforcing trust and dependability within the family unit.
8. Personal Rituals
Meditation, journaling, or morning walks play their role but are not part of a public narrative. Protecting these moments allows them clarity, grounding, and separation from the chaos of external demands.
9. Philanthropy
Many entrepreneurs quietly support causes that align with their personal values rather than branding these efforts. True philanthropy is measured in outcomes, not announcements, and they prefer to keep the focus on those impacted rather than themselves.
10. Burnout Recovery
Recharging after emotionally or physically taxing periods remains private. While vulnerability is praised, they understand that healing often works better when done in solitude or among close confidants.
How to Apply These Principles in Your Own Life
Protecting your privacy doesn’t mean disengaging completely. It’s about selectively sharing information in ways that empower you. Here are some practical tips:
- Audit Your Boundaries: Evaluate what areas of your life need more privacy. For instance, are you oversharing business goals online?
- Control the Narrative: Avoid situations where others dictate how your story unfolds.
- Use Discretion: When building your team, investors, or online following, choose moments strategically to disclose major developments.
- Practice Saying “No”: Decline discussions on personal areas of your life when asked, and transition the focus to what matters at the moment.
- Digital Consciousness: Be mindful of what you post or share on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram.
Mistakes to Avoid
Even successful people stumble in navigating privacy. Some pitfalls to steer clear of include:
- Oversharing During Excitement: Big successes can spark the urge to share on impulse. But revealing plans prematurely risks failure if expectations aren’t matched or competitors intervene.
- Ignoring Personal Recovery: Burnout worsens when privacy isn’t protected. Always prioritize private moments of restoration over societal pressure to “stay active.”
- Taking Privacy Too Far: Collaboration relies on transparency, so communicate effectively with key players like business partners or your core team.
The Privacy Mindset for Entrepreneurs and Freelancers
The art of privacy is about intentional choices, not withdrawing from public life. Public platforms and networking provide invaluable opportunities, but oversharing dilutes focus and distracts from progress. By controlling what remains sacred, successful individuals foster resilience, build trust, and create space to thrive.
Your privacy isn’t just a preference, it’s a strategic advantage in today’s crowded world. By intentionally keeping parts of your life protected, you gain clarity, security, and the confidence to pursue your goals without distraction. Learn more about setting boundaries that amplify your success by checking out this detailed guide to maintaining focus amidst chaos.
FAQ
1. Why do highly successful people prioritize privacy?
Successful individuals use privacy to maintain focus, protect their emotional energy, and safeguard their reputation by deciding what and when to share. Learn more about the importance of privacy for success
2. Why do they keep future plans private?
They avoid sharing their next moves too early to prevent external interference, judgment, or competition, focusing on refining ideas before announcing them publicly. Understand the value of timing in sharing plans
3. What financial details do they keep private?
Successful people often keep salary, debt, investments, and spending habits private to avoid attracting criticism, comparisons, or unwarranted advice. Explore how privacy protects financial decisions
4. Why do they avoid sharing failures in progress?
By keeping mistakes private until they’ve overcome them, they build confidence internally and protect their credibility with clients, investors, or teams. Learn more about managing public perception
5. How do they handle health and wellness privacy?
They maintain privacy around personal fitness routines or challenges to avoid comparisons and focus solely on their individual wellness journey. Understand the personal aspect of health goals
6. What motivates high achievers, and why is it private?
Motivators, whether internal or external, are deeply personal and often shielded to prevent misinterpretation or judgment from others. Discover the role of internal anchors in success
7. Why is philanthropy kept quiet?
Successful individuals contribute to causes without publicizing their efforts, emphasizing the impact on recipients rather than seeking personal recognition. Explore the mindset behind private philanthropy
8. Are personal rituals important for success?
Yes, grounding practices like meditation or journaling are profoundly personal and kept private to ensure clarity and mental peace amidst chaos. Find out more about private rituals
9. How do they recover from burnout privately?
Recharging after exhausting periods is often done in solitude or with trusted confidants, fostering effective healing without external judgment. Understand burnout recovery techniques
10. What boundaries should individuals audit for privacy?
Evaluating areas like social media posting, personal relationships, and disclosure of goals can help set boundaries that support success and focus. Learn tips for auditing your boundaries
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.