I'd make an analogy. If someone has a physical injury and is prescribed physical therapy, then it is obvious what success should look like: the patient does the work (keeps appointments, does exercises, etc.) and over time there is a noticeable improvement.
With sobriety, there is also work to be done (lying around on the couch is not it), and the noticeable improvement that should come as a consequence includes a better, more honest relationship with loved ones.
Recovery involves working on the self, but the result is not selfishness -- but rather its opposite.