What Does It Mean To Be Successful? My Weird Take On This Issue

I used to ask myself, "What does it mean to be successful?" I don't take claims like "success revolves around having your face plastered all over the city" very seriously, because this is a "privilege" of the few, and there are, certainly, many people who have reached their goals but have decided to remain in the background.

OK, I've said "reached their goals," so success should have something to do with getting from a starting point to a desired finish line (well, duh... ). But does this mean that every completed task is an indicator of success? Many would say no. So how do you distinguish important and not-so-important accomplishments?

This is, in my opinion, a very important question. Everything in this world is relative: evil, good, love, hate, success, failure, etc. We often call doctors and lawyers successful. Does this mean that filing law suits or carrying a stethoscope makes you special? Of course, not. However, your wages make a huge difference in how others see you. In other words: success, at least in the modern sense, is defined by how other people perceive us.

We can give many definitions of who a successful individual is, but fact of the matter is that our definitions will, in one way or the other, be accompanied by how much a person makes in a month/year. So, success has a unit of measure - dollars, euros, rubles, pesos, etc.

As I was writing the previous paragraph, I started thinking about doctors who have helped/saved countless individuals. Surely, saved lives could also be counted as a unit of measure of success, right? But let's be honest, if we would hear that a surgeon, who successfully performed 500 operations this year (I made that number up), is poor, would we call him a "success story?" Most likely not! We, probably, would call him a saint, a talented doctor, a fantastic individual - but not successful!

OK, So What Is The Point Of This Article?
Well, I wanted to show that words like "successful" and "failure" are pointless, because they all carry questionable and subjective meanings. Do your own thing, make as much money as you need, and don't wear a mask that, in the end, will make you unhappy.

Am I Successful?
Not by any definition. It took me a long time to understand what I really want. Now I do not limit myself by other people's opinions and labels, and I quietly, without anyone noticing, am just doing my thing.

That last sentence made me sound like a ninja

Andrii Demianenko is the author of TryToLearnMore.com. Inside you can read articles on different topics, including:
1) How to memorize information
2) How to study like a boss
3) How to be successful

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