I have been thinking hard about success in these last couple of weeks. About what it means to succeed. And how long and what a struggle it can be to get there.
I have been thinking about the fragility of every success. And how one mistake can seemingly erase 1000 days of good deeds. If you don’t understand that, consider the arrested drunk driver who killed an innocent person, the ex-employee who was negligent on the job, the brilliant politician who cheats on their spouse, ruining a career, a marriage, a family, and potentially hurting a nation.
I have been thinking about what it takes to achieve success. The level of focus. The desire and accompanying drive it takes to get there. The amount of people chasing this thing called success, in one form or another.
I have been wondering if we are all chasing the right kind of success. And if we really know what success is. Are we squeezing the right fruit to get the juice that we really we want? Do we even really, deep down, want juice at all?
I have heard many times that success is different for everyone. Maybe to some extent that is true. But I feel like there is something bigger out there. Something more meaningful than all these little things that we consider our different versions of success. Some common denominator that we are all looking for out of life.
I considered this a while, then deduced that we all want the same thing. And that it is just the route we take to get there that is different. We are all really trying to the place where we feel very good about our lives.
I have been trying to put this common thing that we all want into words. To define this one end we are looking for to justify all of our means. Some overarching definition of success that could cover everyone. That no one could argue with. That no one could refute. One that, even though we are all so different, that we could all agree on. And believe in.
I have said before, that everything I write has probably been written previously, by a more talented writer. Ralph Waldo Emerson obviously falls into that category. And this passage that he wrote on success is no different.
Success
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty,
To find the best in others,
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,
A garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
Whatever definition you have for success in life, I hope you go after it with everything you have. And I hope you get there. Then I hope that leads you here, to Emerson’s version of success.