What Does Success Mean To You?

Many people believe that success is a game of numbers. Take the soccer game for example. Whoever has the highest score becomes the winner and if the team keeps winning, it becomes the most successful and eventually the richest. Based on this situation alone, we can conclude that success in life means money.

Two friends got involved in a heated discussion about the above statement. Peter supported the above stated point of view while Paul believed the opposite: success in life does not mean money, he said. Suppose my passion is about running and my goal is to run 12 miles (20km) per hour. I tried so many times but today I succeeded. Should  I celebrate my success? I would answer yes.

Peter replied: “if I have more money than you do, I would buy nice running shoes, hire a coach, exercise more and win the competition. You would always be a looser.

Paul thought about this for quite some time and replied: “I know someone who had a lot of money. He was very popular in his country. He was considered to be one of the most successful people in his country. We used to see his face on TV. He seemed to be very happy. A few years ago, he committed suicide. Everyone who knew him was in shock. I used to be on your side, but when this happened, I changed my mind.

The conversation seemed to be a never ending argument between the two friends.  Now my question to you is: what does success mean to you? I had an opportunity to ask the same question myself and people told me that success was indeed about having a lot of money.

When I asked: how much money?  People had trouble answering my question. I know people who have been working for forty years who can’t afford to save $ 100 dollars every month. There are employees who get an annual salary increase of 2% with an inflation rate of 3%. They seem to be happy. There are people who invest half a million is Guaranteed Investment Certificates. They lock in their investments for 5 years at an annual interest rate of less than 3%. The inflation rate of 2.5% and the taxes on returns are not considered in this picture. Those people are not worried about that.

In what is called the “Third World”, you meet villagers in their huts and they receive you with a smile. They greet you with warmth even if they don’t know you. They invite you to share their meals. They don’t have any bank account and they earn less than a dollar a day but they are still smiling.

Now let’s see the big fish position. A millionaire’s annual investments returns for this year has increased by 20% or 100 million. He is very sad because he was expecting a 22% increase. So he did not celebrate because he thought he had failed. Do you really believe he has failed?

Here is another scenario. A drug dealer made 500 million this year, a 100% increase in revenues compared to the previous year. But he is hiding in the amazon jungle because he is aware that the police is after him and his people. He knows that he can die any time without a warning. He is ready to take away people’s lives because he is afraid that an enemy might be hiding among them.

Based on all those scenarios, can we conclude that success means money or more than that? Are you the person who believe in earning without hurting? Do you want to pay the right price for the right product or service and in accordance with the law of the land? Would you agree that Success is the sum of many small successes put together? Would you agree that the iceberg is built of small and fragile snowflakes? What would our two friends Peter and Paul, do to stay friends despite their disagreement?

If they wanted to meet halfway, they could see that money is indeed a very important contributor to success but not the only one. The drug dealer had a lot of money but no peace of mind. A Guaranteed Investments investor seemed to be happier but did not have a lot of money. A Third World villager had no money at all but was still smiling. Furthermore, no one was able to define how much could be “a lot of money.” We are dealing with relativity here.

How about   imagining a situation where you don’t owe anything to anyone. You feel free to do what you love. You have the money that allows you to be who you really want to be, to go where you want to go at any time, on your own terms? You have a level, intensity and duration of positive feelings you have always dreamed of. Your peace of mind is set to the level of your selection on the “peace of mind meter”.  Will you call this having more money or having wealth? Will you consider this the Ultimate Success?