The Secret to Success
I watched this TED video the other day – some of the videos are outstanding – and it turned out be quite different from what I expected. And I think he’s got it all wrong, at least as it’s presented. It’s certainly worth a watch as long as you approach it according to what it’s really about, which is achieving goals.
This is the problem with so many of these “thinkers” and their projects. Rarely is it at all questioned how success is defined. Dropping names like Bill Gates as an example reveals the assumption: success is about entrepreneurship, business, economic leadership, wealth, power, and social status. The American capitalist model of success.
To be a Success in this culture (and Canada as well) one must set lofty goals and using this model achieve them. Following these guides you will likely achieve whatever goal you set, but is that really success? What does success mean? For myself it isn’t necessarily any of the above features.
According to the model, precapitalistic and non-western cultures would have a dearth of how this defines successful individuals. Other cultures may not set goal achievement as the primer arbiter of success. Maybe a holy man is a success. Maybe a good hunter, or a good farmer. Maybe someone who is quiet and reliable is a success, or perhaps someone who throws away their lives for others. Or someone who kills many enemies.
I’m not saying I share these values either, but the possibilities are enormous. It seems to me to be a “Success” (as opposed to simply succeeding at something) is just another American ideology.
In our culture, identity tends to be at least partially defined by the labels we give each other. It’s a subtle but powerful force. So when we talk about someone as a success, that means they define success, they are successful rather than having achieved certain things. The they is very significant because the person becomes an icon according to what they have done rather than who they are.
I cannot think of a greater struggle than someone throwing off a crack addiction to become a functioning member of society, and yet we would hardly call them a success. What they have achieved is enormous, but because it doesn’t fit the cultural image of a success, they will not likely be asked to give a TED presentation.
An issue I have with this very limited notion of what it means to be a success is that there is so much that is ignored. While I avoided most of the news coverage of the local Brotherston trial, I did glance at the final summation and it was profoundly disturbing. Here we have an archetypal “successful” man, according to the values that implies. And yet when confronted with a threatening junkie, Brotherston kills him with his bare hands, snapping the man’s neck in 3 places. He then drives the body to the cop shop and brags about it, telling them that he had “kicked the shit” out of the guy.
I’ve never met Brotherston and I’ve never had my life threatened, but I also don’t believe that I could ever kill a man with my bare hands like that, brutally beating and choking him until he is dead. The details were horrible to read.
The man has wealth and power, both economic and political, and yet I believe that these actions show a very angry, brutal man, used to using his large physical size to dominate or destroy others. Perhaps that says something about why both his kids are junkies, I don’t know.
Now that he is found innocent of 1st degree murder – mostly because Successful men’s words are more valued than that of junkies – he can resume his Successful life. And yet I hope I never, ever meet this man.
I’m not saying all Successful men are killers; what I am saying is goal-defined and driven success may have very little to do with who a man is. I suppose it’s easier to pass judgment on the size of a person’s house or value of their car or the letters after their name.
So what do I think makes a successful individual? I guess I would start with self-awareness. Humility. Courage. Compassion. Selflessness. Gentleness and humour. A person who embodies light and love, and helps relieve human suffering.
I think this kind of person is much, much rarer than any corporate executive and far less likely to be acknowledged. It’s hard to see how this TED video can help people achieve this, and yet the world would be such a better place if we pursued it with same zeal we do becoming Successful.
Come sail with us. www.selfdiscoverysail.com
This is the problem with so many of these “thinkers” and their projects. Rarely is it at all questioned how success is defined. Dropping names like Bill Gates as an example reveals the assumption: success is about entrepreneurship, business, economic leadership, wealth, power, and social status. The American capitalist model of success.
To be a Success in this culture (and Canada as well) one must set lofty goals and using this model achieve them. Following these guides you will likely achieve whatever goal you set, but is that really success? What does success mean? For myself it isn’t necessarily any of the above features.
According to the model, precapitalistic and non-western cultures would have a dearth of how this defines successful individuals. Other cultures may not set goal achievement as the primer arbiter of success. Maybe a holy man is a success. Maybe a good hunter, or a good farmer. Maybe someone who is quiet and reliable is a success, or perhaps someone who throws away their lives for others. Or someone who kills many enemies.
I’m not saying I share these values either, but the possibilities are enormous. It seems to me to be a “Success” (as opposed to simply succeeding at something) is just another American ideology.
In our culture, identity tends to be at least partially defined by the labels we give each other. It’s a subtle but powerful force. So when we talk about someone as a success, that means they define success, they are successful rather than having achieved certain things. The they is very significant because the person becomes an icon according to what they have done rather than who they are.
I cannot think of a greater struggle than someone throwing off a crack addiction to become a functioning member of society, and yet we would hardly call them a success. What they have achieved is enormous, but because it doesn’t fit the cultural image of a success, they will not likely be asked to give a TED presentation.
An issue I have with this very limited notion of what it means to be a success is that there is so much that is ignored. While I avoided most of the news coverage of the local Brotherston trial, I did glance at the final summation and it was profoundly disturbing. Here we have an archetypal “successful” man, according to the values that implies. And yet when confronted with a threatening junkie, Brotherston kills him with his bare hands, snapping the man’s neck in 3 places. He then drives the body to the cop shop and brags about it, telling them that he had “kicked the shit” out of the guy.
I’ve never met Brotherston and I’ve never had my life threatened, but I also don’t believe that I could ever kill a man with my bare hands like that, brutally beating and choking him until he is dead. The details were horrible to read.
The man has wealth and power, both economic and political, and yet I believe that these actions show a very angry, brutal man, used to using his large physical size to dominate or destroy others. Perhaps that says something about why both his kids are junkies, I don’t know.
Now that he is found innocent of 1st degree murder – mostly because Successful men’s words are more valued than that of junkies – he can resume his Successful life. And yet I hope I never, ever meet this man.
I’m not saying all Successful men are killers; what I am saying is goal-defined and driven success may have very little to do with who a man is. I suppose it’s easier to pass judgment on the size of a person’s house or value of their car or the letters after their name.
So what do I think makes a successful individual? I guess I would start with self-awareness. Humility. Courage. Compassion. Selflessness. Gentleness and humour. A person who embodies light and love, and helps relieve human suffering.
I think this kind of person is much, much rarer than any corporate executive and far less likely to be acknowledged. It’s hard to see how this TED video can help people achieve this, and yet the world would be such a better place if we pursued it with same zeal we do becoming Successful.
Come sail with us. www.selfdiscoverysail.com
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