I had an interesting experience over the weekend. Three of us were talking about an article written by a very wealthy person and their philosophy on how to be successful. I realized during the course of the conversation that I had done none of those things and in fact, in many cases I had done the exact opposite. I started to feel very unsuccessful. Clearly, since they have a net worth of $75M and I do not they must be right and I must be wrong. But as I was sitting there feeling very unsuccessful, I had to stop myself and look around and realize that I wasn’t celebrating all the wonderful things in my life and that was sad to me. I was suffering from thinking that money = success. Don’t get me wrong, money is a great thing, and it’s certainly an indicator for a lot of people of how successful someone is, but for me that kind of thinking is going to get me no where fast. So I decided I needed to define success for myself. It turned out to be a lot of fun so I wanted to share it with you. If we let society define success then we might not be addressing the most important things to us. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Defining What Success Means To You
by Ali Schiller | Oct 18, 2013 | 1 comment
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/10/14/131014fa_fact_heller?currentPage=all
How San Francisco’s New Entrepreneurial Culture is Changing the Country –
“Why be Gordon Gekko when you could make enough to have a nice place and go paleo on local greens—and then take a day or two off to cycle out to Stinson Beach? Isn’t that freedom more distinguishing than cash or a C.E.O. title, which everybody in your field has access to? San Francisco’s young entrepreneurs appear less concerned about flaunting their earnings than about showing that they can act imaginatively…”
“People like Willis, young and urban and professionally diffuse, tend to regard success in terms of autonomy—designing your life as you want—rather than Napoleonic domination.”