This Is One of the Biggest Misconceptions About Success
By: Neeramitra Reddy
Tags: Success, Meaning, Purpose, Personal Development, Self Improvement

Dare to Stray From the Herd

No, I am not telling you to become an antisocial rebel that stands against society and everything it stands for. You just have to refuse to blindly accept, take a step back, and think.

There Is No “one” Success

Coming back to the idea of success, let’s think for a while, shall we? Success is the achievement of an aim or purpose and with every one of us having different aims, how can there be “one” idea of success?

As a kid, I used to wonder whenever I came across stories of how a successful businessman quit everything and went into obscurity or how a lifelong topper quit his high paying job and started teaching in a village school.

“So becoming a hermit and spending your life meditating can be as successful as becoming a billionaire.”

It was incomprehensible to me. Why abandon “success”? Poor me didn’t know back then that there was no “one” success.

The very idea that success is objective is flawed. As long as you have a strong sense of purpose, nigh anything can be successful. So becoming a hermit and spending your life meditating can be as successful as becoming a billionaire.

The Power of “why”

Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, and an Austrian psychologist strongly believed and popularized the idea that the primary driving force in human beings is the will to meaning.

“But he persevered by finding meaning and purpose in his suffering.”

Frankl met with a fate that most of us shudder to even imagine — Locked up, starved, tortured, surrounded by death, and at the risk of dying himself. But he persevered by finding meaning and purpose in his suffering.

His purpose was to reunite with his loved ones, complete his life work — logotherapy, and help the other prisoners find their own purpose. As Nietzsche himself says,

“He who has a why to live for can endure almost any how”

Meaning = Happiness

The funny thing with power is that if everyone sought power and superiority, no one would have them. What if life hits you hard and throws you into a situation where you don’t have any power?

“Power depends on other people and circumstances while meaning doesn’t.”

Power depends on other people and circumstances while meaning doesn’t. So by seeking power, you are not in control of your happiness but with purpose and meaning, you are. In fact, only you are.

Power is succeeding in other’s eyes while seeking meaning is succeeding in your own.

“To live is to suffer and to survive is to find meaning in the suffering.” — Friedrich Nietzsche.

Another fundamental distinction to make is that power gives pleasure while meaning gives happiness. Research also shows the same.

“The funny thing is that if everyone sought power and superiority, no one would have them.”

Finding Your Own “why”

It’s simple but hard. We think simple is easy and complex is hard which is far from true. The simplest things are often the hardest too.

All it takes is asking yourself two questions — “What the hell do I want” and “Why do I want it” and answering them in an objective and brutally honest manner.

What others think doesn’t matter. What you think matters. Bare yourself naked in the mental mirror and look closely. You will find your “why” and fulfilling it is true success.