Why Success Is Not The Ultimate

What if I told you that there’s something bigger and better than success? What if I told you that focusing only on becoming successful is also a limitation?

This post is not about success in itself. It is about you. It is about understanding that there’s something more important than just having a successful life. And I have drawn my inspiration for this from a personal experience. I have asked those questions and found answers to them. I want you to do same.

Now, when you think about success, what comes to your mind? Maybe you think of becoming a millionaire like Donald Trump or some famous actor or actress, right? Maybe you think if owning a property in the choicest part of the city or ride the costliest cars. Maybe you think of just being in a position of authority where every other person is at your beck and call.

But, is that all in life?

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary says that success is achieving wealth, power or fame. And this is what most people think too. They believe that if they can achieve wealth, power or fame, then, they are made in life. Yes, they could be made in life. But the question is, after you’ve achieved all those, what’s next?

It is this kind of focus that limits us. When we focus our mind only on achieving these things, we lose focus of the most important things in life like love, family, friends and society.

“I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.” — Leo Rosten

Now, when people describe you, do they talk about what you have achieved for yourself or what you’ve accomplished for the benefit of other people?

If you go after success, you may end up happy but that will just be for you and you alone. Perhaps you may not know about how limiting success is. I’ll show you how.

Success ends the day you die

Because success is only about adding value to yourself alone, all the wealth, power and fame you’d acquire will melt away the day you are gone from this world. And you may never be remembered by anyone any more.

Success is never enough

You may start off with the pursuit of a million dollars. What happens when you achieve that is you will discover that was not enough. So, you’d set off again for, maybe 10 million dollars. You buy a new car today, you feel like you’re on top of the world. In 2 years’ time, a newer and better version of it is released and you want to go for it. And on and on it goes. It’s never enough.

Success is determined by circumstances

The economy may be booming and you are enjoying your investments at that point. But, you will always have at the back of your mind that if anything happens to the economic system, you are likely to lose everything you’ve worked for all your life. Theirs is no trust or confidence in amassing wealth, clinging to power or striving for fame.

Success is totally personal

What you may term as success may just be your own definition of life. It does not necessarily mean that’s what others think. So, in your mind, you may be thinking of yourself as a successful person based on your wealth, power or fame. But to others, because there’s no evidence of how these have added value to others, they may not see it that way.

The question is, what drove your quest this year? Survival? Success? Significance? What will drive it in the coming year? Have you thought about that? My intention for this post is to have you rethink your definition of success as you begin to plan for next year.

It will make more sense if you think more of how your life will impact others than just how you will fill your purse. Because, you are not even sure if you’ll have the opportunity to make more money. That is also through with the former, but then the former is a more acceptable way to think.

Do you want to make a difference in the life of others even with the little that you have? That’s is how life should be. And we will explore that in the next post. Keep tabs!