What Makes You Successful?
Posted: Sunday, October 07, 2007
by LeahG Artist
Cartoon & Illustration Services
For me you are successful when your 'wants' are fulfilled. Thus a poor man can be just as successful in his own mind as a millionaire as long as he has all that he wants and is content with his lot. How many millionaires are 'content' with their lot, or do they aspire to always have more?
Generally we guage others success based on their accumulated wealth and power but is this realistic and is it helpful? Which is a better model to teach our children, to aspire to have attainable goals and to enjoy them or to always aspire to higher goals, reaching ever higher?
Many people perceived by others as successful may not be happy and content themselves because they still want more than they have. For them they will not view themselves successful until they have what is presently unobtainable.
I read something once about students who commit suicide and how their high achiever personality traits never allow them to enjoy success or feel successful, as whatever they achieve for themselves is never enough. No amount of persuasion by family/friends/tutors telling them they are successful helps convince them. In the end the sense of failure is too great and they kill themselves.
Does this mean that success can be both an objective concept and a subjective one and both right and wrong at the same time depending upon who is doing the perceiving?
Is a happy homeless hobo MORE successful than a miserable discontented millionaire?
Consider this:
The millionaire sleeps on feather pillows BUT is an insomniac and suffers the results of that, frustration, irritability, poor quality relationships, poor health etc.
The hobo sleeps on the dirt but sleep soundly and reaps the benefits of that.
Who is more successful?
This question is really about what we deem success and what we value more.
Do you value money more than a good nights sleep?
LeahG Artist and Designer
Leah left the retail and health management world a few years ago to become a freelance writer and artist. She now enjoys creating funky vibrant cartoons and illsutrations for websites, promotional materials and as gifts. Leah would love to illustrate her own children's books in the future. Presently she is creating cartoon and cartoon mascots for business clients.
Visit LeahG's Cartoon and Illustration Services website here for updates and latest art work.
Leah left the retail and health management world a few years ago to become a freelance writer and artist. She now enjoys creating funky vibrant cartoons and illsutrations for websites, promotional materials and as gifts. Leah would love to illustrate her own children's books in the future. Presently she is creating cartoon and cartoon mascots for business clients.
Visit LeahG's Cartoon and Illustration Services website here for updates and latest art work.
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Top-level comments on this article: (9 total)CB, you commended on my article “this whole world’s wakin to a new born day” in my article I comment on how I see the world completely different today. There was a time when people were caught up in a rat race. They were driven by forces unknown to them. It was a dog eat dog world back in the 50s and 60s. If I would have been born in a previous generation I believe I would have been driven by ambition to become rich or powerful. However in today’s world things have slowed down a great deal. In my present condition (maturity has a lot to do with it) I’m satisfied and content with my live and mainly a lot wiser at looking at the world in general. Growing old is a positive asset in our lives. Success to me is "peace of mind"I 100% agree David, peace of mind is everything.
Excellently written! Point well made. Contentment is SO undervalued!Thank you, I myself am content with my lot, I just need to work to maintain it. Would my being more 'successful' in the career sense alter the ability for me to enjoy that which now makes me content? Possibly. A fine balance has to be reached. Knowing what that is the secret possibly to happiness.
good article cre, i've often thought the same things myself. like, does Oprah get headaches? does Bill Gates have bad days? does Donald Trump get tired of being on the go constantly? and yet, the homeless who roam the streets of new york seem so calm and content with the choice they have either made, or was forced upon them. food for thought, best regards, sue thom
Thanks Sue :)
Great post, CB!Thanks Bruce :)
The Talmud says "Who is one who is [truly] rich? He who is happy with what he has." Being 'successful' or 'wealthy' cannot be measured in dollars or cars.
Sam well said, you got the point, Michael, sorry you missed it. This is not about rich man poor man sterotypes it is about the illusion of what constitutes success. Read again the part about the students who commit suicide as they can never attain the level of success they aspire to. Consider tribal people who have health and happiness but none of the trappings of the modern world. They see success in other ways than money and power. Perhaps they view it as strength and fertility for example.
My first paragraph again: "what makes one successful? For me you are successful when your 'wants' are fulfilled. Thus a poor man can be just as successful in his own mind as a millionaire as long as he has all that he wants and is content with his lot." That is it in nutshell, note the words 'in his own mind'.
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