Life for dummies
Some quick notes on the marketing of success
When living in New York, in 2005, I bought myself a small present.
It is a funny, mysterious object: a small plastic bag containing a pinch of magic powder and a syringe. The bag is closed with a paper label, which says: “Be a best-selling writer instantly”.
It seems that a lot of people are actually sure that this magic is somehow possible.
A growing army of bloggers, journalists and evangelist-like entrepreneurs are spreading today a well recognizable mantra, which has an elementary but effective message:
“I know what you need to have success in your life”.
Some examples of this tendency, which I would like to call “Life for dummies”, are also found here on Medium.
“How to reconcile hope with failure”
“Formula for Entrepreneurial Success”
“Just create — Take control of your life and be happy.”
“A lesson worth teaching”
“Pick your own career”
“Marrying an Entrepreneur”
“Youth Sports and Success in Business”
The truth is that nobody has the key to success (nor happiness).
If somebody is successful, he is successful for his personality, his talent, for the context he lives in, and a certain amount of serendipity.
Anyone can make his life better, and there are some good practices which generally help (investing some time in your interests? understanding what really counts? etc.).
But if everyday there is a whole collection of new articles telling the reader how somebody got success, how beautiful is life, and even trying to compile a recipe for success under the form of a to-do list, then it is likely that the author is not really trying to make the best for the reader, but he is applying nothing else than a marketing strategy.
The reason is simple, and that is, that people are desperately looking for models to follow, so ready-to-use models are valuable goods.
The word “success” is a winning buzzword.
In the last years, a whole generation or workers, entrepreneurs, students and artists has been inspired by the personality of Steve Jobs.
His motto: “Stay hungry, stay foolish” is today regarded by many as a reliable formula to have more chances to be successful in life.
The fact is that it is only a subjective formula.
For sure, the majority of people who got some “success” in life, have got such “success” for their ability to feed their creativity rather than thinking inside the box. Steve Jobs is one of those.
But nobody is remembering us that the company he contributed to create was far to be a replicable and general model. The success of Apple comes from far, from a long, complex history and some specific context variables Steve Jobs was able to manage and to drive to his advantage.
Steve Jobs was a shrewd businessman and definitely a huge talent, and was able to find his road to success in the context he was moving his steps. On the other hand, he actually “failed”: in making its products world-wide accessible in terms of price and distribution, in making the production line sustainable in terms of human resources, in finding a strategy to minimize the disastrous impact on the environment deriving from the product cycle.
Steve Jobs failed in making the world a better place and in giving us a real good example.
For these reasons, I would never sketch out my life in the shape he pointed out (and to be honest, I find to work much better in a nice apartment, eating three times a day, avoiding doing extra-time, traveling the most that I can, and giving another meaning to the word “fool”).
People should reject clearly the idea of replicable formulas to “success”, and also the schema of the mono-directional meaning of the word “success” itself.
Something between the lines should suggest us, that somebody who exposes himself by telling us how successful, happy or realized he is (and even by using his personal “failures” as a starting point of another story of “success”) is far from being a good inspiration.
He is not using Medium for himself and for you; he is just using you as a Medium.
(p.s.: I apologize for my English. I am not a native speaker. If you enjoyed this article and you think this article has given something to you, please help me with the editing or/and recommend it. Thank you.)
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