I want to talk briefly about ‘Measuring Success’. I'm not going to share much opinion, just going to plant some thoughts and ask some questions.
It strikes me that there are a number of different possible measures of success in living life:
Optional Success Measure: Material Gain
Many people measure success in life by their accumulation of material goods: a big house, luxury cars, expensive clothes, jewelry, home electronics etc… Success is in having the best, the biggest, the most expensive. Here I think of Donald Trump.
Optional Success Measure: Financial Wealth
Different from above, this is about those who measure success by having the most net worth i.e.: having the highest asset value, or the most money in the bank. These people may live humble lives, materially (inexpensive car, small house etc…), but they have assets in great amount. Here I think of ‘The Millionaire Next Door’.
Optional Success Measure: Incredible Experiences
These are people I know who sacrifice the accumulation of wealth and/ or the acquisition of material items in order to obtain experiences: people who have traveled the world; people who have gone back to school, sometimes multiple times; people who pursue spiritual journeys; people who put priority on culinary experiences, or invest themselves extensively in recreational hobbies. Here I think of one of my good friends, who has visited almost every country on almost every continent of our globe.
Optional Success Measure: A Model Parent
Again, I can think of people I know who put money on the back burner, and make earning level of less importance, in order to be at home more, to spend more time with their kids, to invest more heavily in school or other children’s activities. These people coach, volunteer, tutor, and are generally very deeply involved in their children’s lives. Here I think of many of our neighbourhood community pillars.
Optional Success Measure: A Good Partner
Frankly, I can’t quickly reference very much of this. But I can think of one or two people I’ve known throughout the years who consider their own success in life and as an individual as gauged by the degree to which they were a loving, respectful, supportive and committed partner and to which they were an active part of a loving, respectful, supportive and committed partnership situation. Here, I think of Paolo Coelho, a great writer and vocally devoted partner to his wife.
Optional Success Measure: Professional Achievement
These are the people I know who strive for recognition and advancement in the workplace. It may not be about earning more money, or earning a lot of money, but these people are very committed to their profession and want recognition, appreciation and a sense of forward movement in that profession. For them, it’s not about amount of earnings, but it is about rising through the ranks and achieving a level of recognized authority. Here I think of politicians; these are often not particularly highly paid functions, but they are of some perceived authority.
Optional Success Measure: Creative Expression
I think this an easy one to explain. This is the place where artists and dreamers reside, I think. These are the people who pay little to no heed to financial gain, professional achievement, or the accumulation of wealth. These people not only live to create, often they just have to create to live. What becomes of their creation is often an afterthought or never even conceived of. The list of references here is endless: Leonard Cohen, Van Gogh, Woody Allen.
It’s curious, all these possible optional measures of success. Have I missed any? Do they all in their own way lead to happiness? Result in a satisfaction with life? Are they each objectively good measures of success? Is the most important thing only that it is a personally determined measure of success? What’s your key measure of success? What’s mine?
No comments:
Post a Comment