The Art of Success
Several months ago I had a peculiar conversation with an acquaintance of mine. It was about the art of success and how success should be defined. This guy is miserable in his job yet sees no quick way out. He makes a very respectable salary yet struggles to pay for his oversized house and things he rarely uses. [In other words, his house and things own him.]
He sees other people’s failings, however unrelated to his life as a personal success. Everyone has their own definition of success in life, but his logic is so corrupted that reasonableness only brings a snort of derision followed by straw man arguments and a recitation of carefully rehearsed talking points obtained from talk radio and cable news. For the most part, he sticks close to home and despises anything that could be deemed – foreign – no matter how effective it is.
Believe it or Not, I Really Like This Guy
He sees compromise as weakness, views intellectualism with scorn and introspection with contempt. He has a xenophobic, willfully ignorant and self-righteous perspective. He would rather win than be right.
Forethought and planning – as distinguished from scheming – are seen to only get in the way of a reactionary decisiveness. In other words, he serves a wonderful purpose – he is an almost perfect anti-compass – and I like him for that!
Related:
- Seeing America Through New Eyes
- Why I Began Living a Minimalist Lifestyle for Retirement
- Yes, We Are Responsible
I also like him because he is articulate so long as truth and fact are not on the table, sometimes funny in an ironic sort of way and interesting in that he can hear “truthy” sounding taking points from people that think as he does and make them his without any contemplation of his own.
What is Success?
But I digress: This conversation came about because he overheard a discussion I was having with another person regarding the art of success and my plans for writing, photography, travel in the future.
Apparently, it is his opinion it is impossible to be a “successful” in any way unless success results in material gain. In other words, a person working for pleasure or hoping to share a vision is a failure unless there is money to be made. Starting something without a profit motive is apparently for suckers. Ironically he works for a government agency. I just don’t get it.
I have learned, through trial and error sometimes that happiness is really the true measure of success. It is sad but the world is full of people that define their personal success through the eyes of others. Others see success in only material things. The way I look at it; He who DIES with the most toys, is dead and the true measure of success is in fulfilling your dreams and helping others along the way. Am I wrong? I would love to hear some opinions.
Gee, I wonder who that is?
Actually it is kind of an amalgam of people I have know over the years. Funny thing is I have received more than one email from people “knowing” “who” it was. Someone even took such ownership of this person that they were certain I was taking about them. Kind of sad when someone sees that in themselves and instead of wanting to change is offended that someone noticed.
Well I look at work as training for life. It’s all too easy to get tunnel vision on the small things, or besting the other guy. As I see it, you have gotten your certification on life, so enjoy it. I’m looking forward to my turn.
Well said Wally!
Excellent piece – Success in its very nature is a relative and multidimensional concept. The man who believes that everything must begin with a revenue model is only really concerned with financial success. I remember many years ago when I told my family that I was moving to Mexico for a year, my father asked me “what would make this trip a success”. My instinctive response was to say that if I could make some money while I was there and pay off a percentage of the debt I had, I would say I was pretty successful. My father looked at me for a while (wiser than I am of course) and said, “well what about if you learned the language, met amazing new people, and enjoyed every day, wouldn’t you call that success?” His words alone made me realize that what I was about to do was already a success – even without jumping on the plane. I knew that no matter what happened in my year in Mexico, I would have successfully moved to a foreign country by myself and racked up enough new experiences and fun times that I would never have done sitting behind a desk at home.
So what I am saying is that I agree with your take – Success is living exactly how you would want to live in an ideal world and being happy doing it (living your dreams). The great thing is that we as humans have the right and ability to define what success (being happy with ourselves on a daily basis) should look and feel like.
I agree with you completely. When I took early retirement and moved to Mexico, people assumed I’d taken leave of my senses.
But I think it may have been the smartest thing I ever did.
Living in a new environment awakened numb senses so that each day was an adventure. I edited a newsletter for expats, wrote two books about moving to Mexico, and I’m now writing a third book about how to travel on a dime (Well, actually 1000 dimes!)a day in Europe. None of that would have happened had I kept teaching English.
Would I have had more money had I kept teaching? Yes. But I think I am now far wealthier in experience, pleasure and knowledge. The decision to close one door opened a dozen others. http://www.tightwadtravel.blogspot.com
Thanks Dru!
I think following your dreams is far more important than chasing stuff! I saw your post! Care to guest write something here!?
You bet, Jon! I’d love to write a guest post for you. Since out of town guests arrive Sunday, I won’t have much time for a while, but I can send something by the end of the month.
Thanks!
Sounds great!
If you can do what you love, be happy, and still be able to support yourself/save for when you are unable to work anymore then I think you have definitely succeeded! That is my goal and I am working towards it. nnThe trouble with success is it’s different for everyone. To you and me, this “man” has not succeeded at all. In fact, he’s failed so miserably that he is in denial. Even though he is unhappy with his work, he thinks he should be happy since he has money and material possessions. People are a product of their surroundings and if he never leaves he’ll never change.