A Shift In Perspective: What Does Success Mean To You?
I was sitting having coffee with my parents listening to their usual talk one hears around family (or at least mine): who is doing what, dating who, money, success etcetera.
They were comparing two polar opposites in my family.
Person #1 is a family member who came to this country and went from having nothing and working odd jobs to building a strong business and starting her family. You could say she is what most would immediately categorize as a success story.
Person #2 she also worked odd jobs and had nothing. She started a business which is going well enough to help her get by and she lives alone with her cats that she adores and although she is not as financially prosperous as person #2, she is happy.
My father began to say you can really tell person #2 is stuck in life and threw away her potential especially when you compare her to person #1. He didn’t say it in a way to be intentionally mean. That’s something I’ve noticed that many people say cruel things but do not have bad intentions, you simply need to show them a new perspective so they can see things differently. So I decided to share with him my perspective which is the following.
Just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is success.
To one person success may mean having the financial riches most can only dream about along with the big beautiful house and family. But to another the definition of what it means to be “rich” can mean something totally different such as doing something that isn’t as financially lucrative but it fills your soul with a sense of purpose and happiness.
Both #1 and #2 are happy ladies in their own similar yet totally different scenarios. Both are successful because both have succeeded to find what makes them happy. Just because #2 doesn’t have as prosperous a business or lavish a lifestyle it doesn’t mean she has failed. She is proud of herself because she too made her vision into a reality. That itself is an accomplishment.
So is #2 a waste of potential? No. That actually is something only she can give a proper yes or no to. She is the one who decides what a full potential means for her and her vision for how she chooses to lead her life. Just because your idea of success is a polar opposite from someone else’s, it doesn’t mean other people who “fail” to meet your standards are an actual failure.
What Is YOUR Meaning Of Success?
It’s so easy to scroll through social media or just observe the people in your day to day life and draw comparisons. We forget to look inside and actually question ourselves.
Something interesting I’ve noticed is we tend to begin to feel like we want what we see just because it’s what fills our screens and is trending in the world. We may not literally think “ I want A, B, and C because this is what X, Y and Z do” because it’s a very subtle process of visual persuasion.
Deciding what you want, figuring out who you are is a process of much deeper introspection. F*ck what’s popular, what do YOU think is cool? What do you enjoy? What do you want? Whatever that is, that is your goal and achieving that is your individual perspective on success. Whether you want to be a dog walker or a luxury real estate broker, success is a matter of opinion and the only opinion that matters is your own.
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