Thoughts about success
I have been thinking about “success” and what it means. After reading some biographies and trying to understand the ideas of success, a few recurring themes have emerged in my thinking. This essay is an attempt to articulate them, and these may not reflect the standard personal development narrative. However, they may be of some benefit to you and provide a different viewpoint for your considerations. I believe free thinking is one of the most valuable skills a person can have, and your comments and thoughts would be gratefully appreciated. So, if you would like to add any of your thoughts, please feel free to leave a comment below
What is success
What is success? This is a big question — it depends on the individual. At its heart it is asking what do you value? What is important to you? Although it is individualistic, people exist in cultures and societies which also have values; they attach cultural and societal values and meanings to the concept of “success.” Society and culture are inescapable and influence the individual; shaping their views.
So, success is more than an individual choice; it is how one sees oneself, how that is reflected in their self-image in and of society, but also the subgroups of society they may belong or aspire to. For instance, sport might be valued by some, music by others — relating the values and interests of the sub-societies where they desire to belong.
In general, society tends to value wealth and hierarchical status as a proxy for the “quality” of “success.” Whether this assumption is valid, fair or helpful is another matter. Other stories such as falling from grace and the macabre provide points of interest; the identification and judgement in the morality stories of the affliction of vice and corruption — the shock of the infamy found in others’ inhumanity providing a fearful glimpse into life’s darkness from the safety of our own houses — the swindler, the killer the greedy corporate executive. The moral hazard for all to see and all to fear; the warnings of the imperfection of society; the equivalent of a modern-day freak show.
Although not considered successes, these “failures” are often embraced as the antihero or the freak. They provide an extreme warning point, but deeply exaggerated. They do offer some learning points but not as a prescient learning point for those attempting to gain success. More they are a sign of the dangers of success and achievement; the picture of the pleasant, easy but dark path at the fork in the road, omnipresent and available to all. But life often offers fewer extreme situations than Enron or WorldCom. Are these an appropriate counterpoint to make comparisons with success stories? In many ways I would argue no, these are lessons in life of the dark side, and lessons that need to be learned; not necessarily relevant at the start of the journey to find success.
Interestingly, for success, we are presented with people that “society” deems successful, or maybe more accurately, the “media” deem successful. However, the media is influenced by society so there is likely to be an intersection. We as individuals have our own preferences, sub-cultures and beliefs so will gravitate towards certain stories. I suspect the stories that we gravitate towards say something about us as individuals, our choices, our beliefs, our nature and our values. The choice of literature a person consumes would be a strong reflection on what they gravitate towards, their values, beliefs and the “success” they value, or have some admiration of. So, of our choices; do we choose them or do they choose us?
It should be noted that not all” success” stories are available in video or print; not all success stories are as valued by the media or society. They may not reflect a general societal view of “success” — like raising good kids and teaching good habits and morals. Nonetheless, these are still valid versions of “success” if that is what you choose them to be. “Success” is a personal choice, but influenced by external forces and pressures on the individual choosing them. But having an idea of success forms the basis of who we are — it presents goals and aspirations — they are for us to choose, or perhaps, for them to choose us. And by choosing; we express this choice through our desires and actions — either consciously or unconsciously. Hence, if we are true to ourselves, our actions should reflect a plan to achieve our version of “success.”
However, does “success” change over time? Yes, as both individuals and society change. The “success” stories through history have changed — would a modern-day Aristotle be as valued as the ancient Greek version? Do people read as much as they used to, and what about the quality they read — or was it the same quality only different sources through history? Is bad literature of the past less prevalent now because it has been forgotten in time? Will much of the tripe today be irrelevant and unheard of 200 years from now? Will they have their own tripe? Probably yes, and these will remain constant themes through the ages.
But, as life’s journey and trajectory progress, as society evolves over time, we change. As we change, so do are beliefs and values. So too does our view of “success”, it changes as we change. However, this is not a bad thing, it just represents evolution and development. Hopefully it represents personal growth and learning through our lives.
So, you choose your own version of “success” but this is at a point in time, and hence we are all re-choosing or reconfirming our views of “success” as an ongoing process. Success through time may be more short term and event specific, like graduating and longer specific — like evolving into where you want to be. These are all based on time and the individual, and are not less valid than any other — they are just a snapshot in time.
What makes one successful.
Two points from the previous section stand out. The first is that you choose what “success” looks like to you, although you are influenced by external sources to some extent. This leads to a question of ambition. Although society distains it, you could assign success to small actions and limited outcomes. You could have little ambition and a low bar for success. This is your choice, and only your choice. But there is an interesting point in that small actions can compound, and a series of challenges and habits, over the course of a lifetime, can have a huge effect. Many great writers have had small successes with articles and short stories that lead on to books and then onto more major things. Business the same — small business through daily actions grew to be much larger.
Thus, “success” might lie in the doing, the habits, the skill and the knowledge, not the materialistic or status rewards. It may simply lie in trying to improve oneself or work towards a goal, and being willing to do the work; where the outcomes are less important than the development. This is because we can choose and do the small actions — like writing this essay; I can choose do the work, but cannot choose how it will be received.
The second point is that the “success” stories have little counterweight. There are few stories of the non-successful. There are many apocryphal horror stories of people wasting their talent, but these are often low-resolution stories aimed at making a specific point. But there is limited underlying information to have recourse to and verify. There is little in the way to deconstruct the successful from the unsuccessful. Only some hypotheses have been drawn and yet to be confirmed; there is no guarantee that the successful stories or their actions will relate directly into success for anyone.
Also, “success” stories are often written in hindsight with hidden or very blatant biases, only providing some information into the situations faced. It does not provide the full picture over the course of a lifetime — it is a curated story with a narrative usually trying to prove a point. More is excluded than included, and care must be taken in to the reading and interpretation of these stories. There may be many doubts and many psychological aspects which may not be included and, there will always be some questions over the validity of the stories. Potentially only providing the rosy picture and agenda people want seen.
However, there are many “success” stories so some triangulation is possible. But without counterpoints, only some commonalities of the stories can be extracted, a correlation; there is no way to show that these directly caused success — causation — as many of the “failure “stories untold, may have done the same things. So, there will always be the point about luck. Is it the only necessity? I would argue no — after reviewing the stories pure luck would still need to be seized; similarly, I cannot believe that these stories categorically provide a roadmap to success either. The argument I see is that there may be items that contributed more than others, and it is difficult to see how much contribution that each made.
Considering this point, I have read many biographies, and they do have some common themes, likely uncommonly known. There is a clear element of action and execution — at some point people have done something. The doing over time led to achievement. So, it cannot be pure luck that action has had some level of positive response. They may have directly acted or undertaken some experiment — in all cases there was some directed effort towards a goal or a problem. Doing happened — initiative existed — it was seen through to the end. These were necessary for success.
There was a natural tendency, disposition or interest towards something or a belief in something. This led to a learning period and a willingness to learn. Skills developed over time; skills and the learning curve were climbed. A level of quality and mastery in a particular area was reached. The rate of ascent however, need not be that rapid — it varied depending on the individual and mistakes were made as part of the process. It was likely that people did not get it right first time. But they leant from the failure and acted on it; the subsequent action led them to a better path and eventually success.
Also accepting one’s weakness, finding ways to manage and mitigate them were also an important identified theme. Likewise, the influence of others and the willingness to learn and take council from others was also noted, people fail in vacuums, they succeed with and rely on others. So, the influence and learning from others was a clear message. However, so was not blindly following others; those of the success stories thought for themselves ignoring others when they saw fit; taking actions they deemed acceptable when considering the opinions of others, and at times, taking a contrarian point of view.
Success was a process that took time. Although it took time, it was something that they were interested or strongly believed in; feeding a drive and a motivation which was maintained over a substantial period to time. Their actions added up over time. But the time and the commitment also meant that sacrifices were made and accepted; affecting their personal life and other pursuits. Discipline and a willingness to proceed was a necessity and it showed in all cases.
This meant that the approach was long-term, but also there was a belief that, in the end, they would be successful. I am unsure how much self-doubt may have occurred during their journey, and whether hindsight removed or forgot these doubts. Life presented a range of opportunities and challenges and this belief was necessary; it was the counterbalance; it gave resilience. The resilience was necessary to maintain momentum and motivation during challenging times; necessitating progress. It probably produced the necessary but not sufficient conditions for success. It provided the inner confidence to keep progressing and make mistakes.
The making of mistakes provided opportunities to learn and improve; a long-term process where they got better and closer to their goals.
There was also a measure of the right thing, place and time. Whether the thing, place and time attracted them; it befell them or it was a matter of luck I do not know. Life has only presented a single story — the paths not taken will always be unknown. Confronted with a different time and place — maybe the above points would have allowed them to find a different success. Maybe the above did not guarantee success, but they enabled success when the right opportunity presented itself. Success maybe a matter of preparation and waiting for the right opportunities. Maybe there is something of a temperament and developing the right tools; waiting for the right opportunity.
These are my observations; you may have others and that would be worth sharing. It is the sharing that I believe helps make improvements; by debating and discussing, new perspectives and views and ideas emerge — challenging current assumptions, opening new lines if inquiry and thought. Shaping and refining personal philosophies over the long-term, to help us achieve our own version of “success.”
Conclusion
Success is your definition and no one else’s — you define and own it. We cannot know if you will be successful — all one can do is ascertain some commonalities amongst successful people and try an apply them. These likely improve your chance of success, but there is always some level of chance and choice involved. But it maybe the doing and the learning from working towards a goal that is the “success,” and perhaps, what is required is to change our views on what defines “success.” Nonetheless, from the “success” stories a message of hope emerges — as Pasteur said “fortune favours the prepared mind,” and being prepared is probably the best you can do.
I hope this has been of some benefit to you. If it has, please feel free to leave a comment below.
