How Do You Measure Success?

Most success stories begin with the end point. What is your main goal in life? In our competitive generation success has never been more imperative to define whether it’s concerning your relationship, career and even social media status. Many of us young people are under tremendous pressure to be successful at something that it’s coming at a cost of many of the morals and values that are instilled in us by our parents and grandparents. Being African, my upbringing has always been to listen to your elders and respect their opinions actually who am I kidding? More like “do as you are told!” but is this really practical in our generation when such a thing as “SUCCESS” is at stake? Who actually knows what success is? But most importantly who knows how to get it? What is the literal definition of success? “The accomplishment of an aim or purpose” A lot of us have opinions about what we consider successful for example, I know people who measure success by how educated they are, and you can only gain these people’s respect by showing a display of academic certificates. I am not necessarily this kind of person but I truly am a pioneer of education, I truly believe one’s options in life are endless when they can read and write but are these people always successful? You have people who have made it their life’s aim to end up in white picket fenced suburban house, a successful husband named Michael, two kids named Alex and Alice and a dog named Spot. These people measure their success by getting married and having a family. Their priority is that, personal academic development could be a bonus but not necessary. I think having a family to share success with is definitely important and there is a favourite saying of mine which says “who wants to be 70 and alone? But is marriage and children the epitome of success? Then comes our generation's infamous success stories, the social media executives and CEO’s. First of all I have to say a lot of people are creating a great living out of their social media following and standing. Just the other day I was reading about 20 something year olds YouTube millionaires on Daily mail. It’s very impressive when you put your creativity and talent together to achieve such greatness. I am actually in awe of these people because I recognise their hustle and you have to commend them for this achievement. Attention has become the greatest currency of our generation. However not all social media gurus promote the right thing (that’s open to debate) but that's another story for another post. So at any cost is popularity and attention the true definition of success? Some people have achieved all of the examples I have given above at very young ages and some cannot raise their hand for any of the many examples our society describes as success but I for one haven’t like many my age. I have focused mainly on achieving a stellar academic record and impressive career standing. Did you ever have a dream of being a millionaire by the time you were forty? The word “balance” comes to mind I think maintaining a balance of your physical, mental and emotional needs is one of the keys needed to live a successful life. One can never be truly happy if one area of their life is lacking. Constantly realising that these needs must be met with every decision reminds you of what is truly important. Think about the time you have made a life changing decision based one just one of your needs, other areas of your life lack which then limits the probability of you being successful at that endeavour. What do you think? Can money or Education or Marriage heal all wounds? Once you realise the importance of balance, you must have a purpose. Your purpose must fulfil all aspects of your life, which means you as a person must fulfil the duties of all the roles you play in the people in your life for example your role as someone’s sister, girlfriend, daughter etc. Your purpose must meet each of these role’s requirements otherwise neglected aspects of your life will not be successful. So like myself I’m on a journey of fulfilling other needs in my life, and for the last two years they have been centred on emotional growth. I have taken the time to know myself and my emotional desires from family and or my potential life partner. I have healed from pain that was caused from heartbreaks and taken with me lessons learnt. I would like to think that the journey has been worth it because one of the things I can now add to my list is being in a successful healthy relationship. So think about your needs today? What is your purpose? What could make you say one day “SELF YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL”! I still want to be a millionaire though!!!! Agree or Not Leave a Comment because that’s How Scarlet C’S it!!!