Success - When Does It Start?

We need to have a frank discussion about SUCCESS.

I think the term is warped and shifted into a very outcome-driven definition.

When it pertains to tasks, projects, and used in other non-person descriptions, that definition is appropriate and easily understood.

When we transitioned from working with Bank A to Bank B, that transition was a success.

When we used Process A which was inefficient and slow but then switched to Process B, that was more efficient and streamlined, that was a successful switch.

When Facebook rebranded to Meta, that was an unsuccessful transition. No one calls it Meta.

When the term is used in the context of humans, of people, it becomes a more jarring and inappropriate descriptor.

Here’s why.

What Are The Criteria Of Success?

How do we measure success? There are many things that can go into one’s definition of success but it isn’t necessarily straight-forward, nor universally agreed upon.

Are You A Success Based Solely On Monetary Compensation?

What happens if you happen to make $1 million dollars a year but hate your job, and find the working conditions toxic and inhumane?

What about if you make $20,000 a year but love the people, the work, and the impact you have on others? You wake up every day eager to work and eager to make a difference in lives. Would you be considered a failure?

Are you a success based solely on happiness?

So long as I’m happy, is that sufficient to be a success?

Does success include financial stability or one’s ability to provide for a family? Certainly success can take many shapes so depending on your personal interpretation of success, these may be relevant questions and considerations. Back to the previous example of making $20,000 a year but loving the people, the work, and the impact you have on others, to some people that may be success.

Are You A Success Based On Your Fame And Recognition?

If someone can stop you on the street or identify you, that makes you a recognizable figure. Does that mean you are a success?

Some may say that actors are a success. What about reality TV stars? What about infamous people from the news?

Does your success depend on how others perceive you?

Some people purposefully avoid being in the spotlight, avoid being noticed.

Others relish in the attention and the impact that they have on the world around them, whether that’s through entertainment, education, social commentary, etc.

Does your definition of success include being acknowledged for your accomplishment?

What About Start-Up Company CEOs And New Industry Innovators ?

If you were creating a new product or service that people don’t quite even understand, are you considered a success or failure? As our technological world continues to advance, your everyday person may not necessarily understand what you are accomplishing. As a result, the recognition of your contributions may not come to fruition.

What about the first AI company before AI was a thing?

Or social media company before social media became a thing.

In the context of not actually understanding what product or service actually is actually being offered, is that successful?

Like nowadays, there are those live-streamers and NPC streamers. I still don’t quite understand the intention myself but if these individuals can pay the bills doing that, is that considered a success?

Is Vincent Van Gogh A Success?

Tiktok Account Kennovate posed the question here.

Vincent Van Gogh died before receiving the recognition for his art.

He died before the monetary success followed his creations.

He died before his fame peaked.

If money, fame, and recognition of talent did not occur until after his death, when did he transition from failure to success?

And how do we separate his success from his art’s success?

If you define success from external validation in the form of monetary compensation or recognition for your inputs and

creations, then success occurred after his death.

Is that a type of success you are willing to have?

Tiktok User Kennovate proposes a different interpretation of the word.

Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.

- Earl Nightingale

This interpretation lends itself to the belief that success occurs when you pursue your goal.

It means that when Vincent Van Gogh decided to create art and pursue that endeavour - that’s when he was a success.

When he chose to pursue his interest in art versus any other potential pursuits, that he became a success.

And I think that’s an interesting interpretation. Because it certainly is not the interpretation we as a society apply or use. We don’t celebrate new or starving artist creatives like that. We prioritize stable, secure lines of work like nurses and government employees.

We judge people as successful based on their bank account, the car they drive, the size of the home they live in.

This definition means that your decision to pursue the thing that you identified as a target for pursuit turned you into a

success.

It means that Vincent Van Gogh was always The Vincent Van Gogh. That his success was something tied to him rather than

other people and their perception of him and his art.

It means the monetary compensation, the accolades, the fame, and the other external validations are irrelevant.

The question is then whether or not Vincent Van Gogh saw himself as a success. And I don’t think he did.

He committed suicide. The loneliness, sense of failure and sense of burden on his brother were speculated to be a part of his

motivations for suicide. And I think that’s the saddest part of it. If the rest of the world thinks you are a success after your

death, but you yourself feel like a failure, when does that label of success become applicable.

Again, I emphasize that I think success and failure labels for things/projects/endeavours should be handled differently from success labels for humans.

Humans are only not succeeding when they are not pursuing what they have decided what they want to do. Because they are not actually pursuing their worthy goal or ideal.

The additional caveat to that is that if they decide to change their worthy goal or ideal, they can then transition to being a success because their actions align better with their updated ideal or goal.

So I hope you have a moment to yourself to figure out what success looks like to you. Recognize that you are successful the

moment you are pursuing something you deem worthy of pursuit.

Recognize that that is the moment where success occurs. Not the accolades, not the monetary wealth, not the recognition.

Recognize that our societal measure for success in people is skewed, misshaped and a poor definition that depends on external validation.

Recognize that our societal measure for success doesn’t actually fit well with our unanimously identified icons of success.

Vincent Van Gogh killed himself, concerned that he was a failure and burden to his family.

Edgar Allan Poe was largely known as a literary critic while alive rather than a poet or short-story author because the world

didn’t come to appreciate his works until after his death.

Same goes for Herman Melville, the American novelist who wrote Moby Dick, whose recognition only followed his death.

My point being that your external validation of success may only be recognized posthumously, so I hope you employ a

definition of success for yourself that allows you to appreciate and enjoy yourself. You deserve it.

You’re a success.