What Is Success?

I was talking about Success the other day — trying to work through WHAT exactly the earmarks are of a ‘successful’ person…

And now a couple of days later I’m wondering if Success was really the right word for my ponderance…was I talking about Fame/Recognition ? Financial success?
Really, I’m most interested In Pinnacle Happiness…but I think I was talking about Fame + Financial success.

Anyways,
The Thought weren’t like this —

If you think of Success as a pie —
You need to have a huge wedge of Proficiency / Honed Skill set.

Another arguably large piece needs to be Hunger / Tenacity — you need to want it.

Then the thought experiment got a bit murky —-

I was ruminating about how much Charisma played a part in Success. I figured it was pretty large — however my Dad was giving me flat counterpoints like Bill Gates + Warren Buffett. ( Not the most charismatic individuals )

The last slice of the pie seems to be the ever-elusive ‘Luck’.
Teasing this out we both agreed that somewhat ‘lucky’ encounters play a role, however there’s no viable space for luck to even ‘turn up’ if you aren’t out ‘swinging + trying’.
Last I checked no one is coming knocking on your door because they had a premonition that you might be someone to take a bet on.
You need to do something.
Show something.
Try something —-
To even be in consideration….

My Dad was firmly in the camp of - ‘we all have an opportunity to shine’ which is at once warm + benevolent, but also seems a bit ‘rose-coloured-glasses’.

Yes, to a point we all make our destiny, but with the starting point so varied for all of us… and so many things we can’t control….
I wonder.

🖤

This last thought reminds me why I’m so rooted in the camp of ‘Success for me’. I’m not interested in competition or zero-sum games.
The most I can strive for is High Happiness, Good Finance, Life-Long Betterment + A Love of Learning.

🖤

I went deep on this in my last Q+A.
If you missed it, catch the replay on IGTV.

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