Do Cultural Norms Shape Our Understanding of Success?
In my second-grade grammar textbook, there was a fill-in-the-blank question: “When I grow up, I want to be a _______ businessman.” The only correct answer was “successful.” As young students, none of us truly understood what it meant to be a “successful businessman.” All we grasped was that being successful was being someone like a businessman.
As I grew older, following the conventional path of education, I visited Goa for a case study. There, I met two European roommates in my hostel. Assuming they were college students like me, I asked about their studies or professions. To my surprise, they revealed they were on a world tour. I thought to myself, “A world tour at 22? Aren’t we supposed to do that when we retire and have enough money?”
Curious, I asked them about how they managed their careers, finances, and studies, according to their experiences. They explained that in their country, it’s common to save money by working from a young age and then travel the world.
Personally, I find it challenging to consider world travel at this stage. According to my parents, the typical path involves becoming financially stable by 26, getting married and having kids around 28, and then considering world travel when the kids grow up.
This made me realize that the difference between myself, an Indian, and my European roommates was not just geographical, but also cultural. In my experience, cultural values can significantly influence our understanding of success.
When I think of success, I often envision a nice house, a car, and financial stability. However, for someone from a different cultural background, success might mean something entirely different. This raises the question: how many of our thoughts and ideas are truly our own, and how many are imposed by generations before us?
Speaking of generations, the current one is experiencing a cultural shift with the rise of social media jobs. Yet, even these new careers are slowly moving towards a rat race, with competition focused on gaining the most followers.
No matter which path we choose to pursue our passions, we often end up in a race to become “successful” in that field. This might explain why we never seem satisfied with what we have or what we’re doing.
In conclusion, cultural norms significantly influence our perception of success, and it’s important to recognize and question these ingrained beliefs as we define our own measures of achievement and fulfillment.
