Why Society’s Definition of Success Is Flawed:
Unfolding the true meaning of success
Today, we’ll be talking about the magical word “Success”!
And if you’re here for some secret formula that only 0.0000001% of people know about, walk away, I’ll spare you, promise :)
Okay now with half of them gone, let’s start unfolding “success” for a bit, okay? What is it made up of? (Hint: It’s not some magical ingredient that only 1 in a million have).
Society’s Definition of Success:
According to most people, if you have money, power, and fame, you’re successful. What society follows is a fragile Idea of having money, power, and fame as success.
But why the fuck do they do that?
Because of the three big games of society: democracy, capitalism, and advertisement.
- Getting up on democratic institutions gives power;
- since it is a capitalistic society, money matters too; and
- since advertising sustains all this, fame is also important.
Whoever conquers these games in any way is labeled as successful.
Is society’s definition incomplete?
Hell yeah, it is!
Their idea of success is about competing and accumulating the most quantifiable metrics (i.e. money, power, fame), but there are a hell of a lot of things that are not quantifiable but are vital for us. So yes, it is incomplete.
If that is incomplete, how do we make it complete?
Complete Definition of Success:
Freedom! If you combine freedom with society’s definition, it’s complete.
What the fuck do I mean by “Freedom”?
Freedom does not mean that you’re free from work. In some sense, work is the vitality that gives life to a person. Freedom is when you can choose it.
Freedom is when you have the ability to choose your work, emotions, and responsibilities; and also have the ability to enjoy that freedom.
When you chase freedom, money becomes a byproduct since you’ll be limited in many ways if you do not have it. And to some extent, power comes with money. Fame isn’t required to be successful in today’s world. Anyone can have fame nowadays.
“Then isn’t freedom the combination of money, power, and fame?”
No! Those things can free you from physical constraints, but what about mental constraints? Let’s talk about that!
“Okay, and what does ‘the ability to enjoy freedom’ mean?”
That’s connected to mental constraints, let me explain.
Mental constraints
In modern society, the idea of Freedom is spread like you have to sacrifice “today” to enjoy “tomorrow”. And that’s what you can see everywhere too. People working a job for 30 years to enjoy and be free after their retirement. Most people have this mindset. But can someone be free after being restrained for such a long time? They lose their ability to enjoy, play, and laugh. I don’t call that freedom.
So carve this in your mind, a job can’t make you successful.
Then comes the people who have enough money and power so that they can choose their responsibilities and do whatever the fuck they want, but they choose the wrong path to get it. What will you even do with that kind of success if you can’t be true to the world? Are you really free then?
And then there’s a guy who earned money, power, and fame without any wrong means. But instead of earning money to get free from it, he gets trapped in its vicious trap. And if he’s trapped in it, he’s gonna go the wrong path to earn it at some point in time. But let’s say even if he doesn’t is he really free if he’s trapped in his own money and power?
“Earn money to be free from money, not to get trapped in money.”
So, these are 3 cases where even if you have freedom, you don’t have the ability to enjoy it.
Okay! The article is done. We discussed the society’s idea of success and why it is incomplete.
Stay tuned for tomorrow cuz we’ll be discussing the “Blueprint to become successful”. Yes I know it sounds cliché but it’s not (probably).
If you want to criticize me (yes please!) or maybe appreciate me(i don’t know why you’d do that), please do so. I’d really appreciate it.
Okay, bye for now!
