Explain how people’s difference in their definitions of success influence the way they lead their lives.

Abraham Lincoln once said “Always bear in mind that your resolution to success is more important than any other one thing”. No matter what is the definition one might assign to their own individual notions of success, assuming it is universally accepted as moral and good, it is the firm determination to stick by it and see it through that is essential. This determination is the basic drive that motivates us to lead our lives in a particular way to achieve our personal success goals. According to Daniel Midson-Short of the New Zealand Health&Wealth Report (2009), success can be classified into six types. Out of the six, three – the contributor success, the power-hungry success and the Puritan type of success can be used to explain how people’s difference in their definitions of success influence the way they lead their lives.

First of all, the contributor success is adopted by people who want to create a better world for others and future generations in terms of social work or by their careers. The people who undertake this type of success as their personal definition probably see it is a moral responsibility or they just have a special passion for it. Social work can be expanded into volunteerism, charity, counseling and many more. One apt example of a person who gauged her personal success as a contributor through social work was Mother Theresa. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, Mother Theresa had 610 missions in 123 countries with the sole intention of just doing humanitarian work with no profit and advocating for the rights of the poor and helpless. While this kind of success can be linked with the spiritual type of success, where religion guides one to give back to society and not live for this world, it might not be always true as contribution can be non-religious as well. For example, popular talk-show host, Oprah Winfrey started a reality TV series called the “The Big Give” where it just focused on contributor success type contestants who were given a sum of money to perform philanthropist acts and challenges to emerge as the judges-selected, “Best Philanthropist” winner in the end.

While social work or charity seems to be the general view of giving back to society, it doesn’t have to be so. Using one’s own career can be also of the contributor success. Steve Pavlina, a personal developer who changed careers from being a game developer for this reason, (2009) said the “best long-term outlet for making a meaningful contribution to the world is your career.” Most people have a desire to make a positive difference to the world but when that is not being fulfilled through their careers, they feel guilty and thus invest their money or time for worthy causes such as charity on the side. People of the contributor success category would probably rather use their career itself to contribute to the world such as those in the education sector where their work can let them see the contribution they are making. Poet-cum-teacher, Taylor Mali’s lines, “I make a goddamn difference, what about you?” in comparison to a lawyer, in his famous “What Teachers Make” poem succinctly puts the point across.

Secondly, certain people are influenced by the power-hungry kind of success, leading their lives in that direction, illustrated in politics or business. These sorts of people usually have a dominating personality where they want to have a reign or control over something or people. In light of the recent 2011 Libyan Civil War, there can be no better exemplification of such a people-control character but deceased Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. His dictatorship lasted an astonishing estimate of 42 years, an entire generation, from 1969 to 2011. Throughout his reign of terror, he held various titles such as “Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution of Libya” and “Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Libya” just to justify his top, ultimate position in the government. He held an iron grip to his regime even though his unpopularity was soaring and finally, “when his own people rose up against him, he responded with brutal repression” (Cordon, 2011) with militiamen and warplanes to attack the demonstrators. Power-hungry success is of course, not constricted to politicians alone but those who actively pursue ambitions to be in managerial or leadership roles in their careers can also fall under this category. Control over things such as businesses can also be an aspect for power-hungry success. By owning lots of business ventures, these people might feel a sense of achievement, power and control that they define as their success. Three times Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, is one such businessman whose main investment lies with the Italian media with significant assets in television, newspapers, publishing and cinema. Major ownership in other sectors including finance, banking, insurance, and sport positions him at net wealth of 9 billion according to Forbes Magazine in 2010. Coinciding with the materialistic kind of success too, maybe power-hungry people, experience a lack of control over some personal feature of their lives and thus show their control over something they can.

Thirdly, certain people might define success as the Puritan type of success and allow that to influence them to lead their lives in that way because either they are pressured by their environment to or because they set a standard of personal worth that way. Being pressured by their environment, usually family, to continually prove themselves as successful or worthy of being in such an environment drives such people to constantly check that they are on a certain right track in terms of achievements. Amy Chua, professor at Yale Law School and author of “Battle Hymns of the Tiger Mother” is one such parent who believes in the supposed Chinese way of strict upbringing focusing on academic excellence and discipline and undoubtedly, this does produces results, compared to Western methods. Practicing musical instruments even on vacation, being number one in class in all subjects and participating in only in events that earn you medals are some of the tough love strategies employed by her. Those who have been raised in such a family would then be most probably be Puritan type, even if it is not their choice because it has been ingrained into them since young. But there are those Puritan success people who do not have this environmental pressure and adopt this definition out of choice because they set a standard of personal worth this way. Every achievement increases their sense of worthiness, and there is always another goal once the current one is achieved. But of course, this induces the question of when will they finally be satisfied and actually be happy, looking back at all the achievements they have made.

In conclusion, the definition of success is abstract and cannot be simply put into words. It is personal. It is unique. It is individualistic. Everyone cannot be fitted neatly into any of the categories that were mentioned above and are probably a combination of different types. What matters is that we should find one that works for us. Which leads to an interesting question of will our personal definition of success change as we pass through different stages of our lives? Or is it better to keep one to influence us to lead our whole lives?

Reference List

Midson-Short, D. (2009, January 26). Six types of success. health-wealth.co.nz. Retrieved from http://www.health-wealth.co.nz/home/free-articles/six-types-of-success.html

Mother Theresa. (2011, December 16). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Theresa

Oprah’s Big Give. (2011, December 2). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah%27s_Big_Give

Pavlina, S. (2007, July 27). Contributing through your career. Stevepavlina.com. Retrieved from http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/07/contributing-through-your-career/

Mali, T. (2009). Taylor Mali: What Teachers Make. Taylormali.com. Retrieved from http://www.taylormali.com/index.cfm?webid=13

Muammar Gaddafi. (2011, December 13). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaddafi

Cordon, G. (2011, October 20). Muammar Gaddafi: A 40-year thorn in the West's side. Independent.co.uk. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/muammar-gaddafi-a-40year-thorn-in-the-wests-side-2373395.html

Silvio Berlusconi. (2011, 13 December). In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi

Chua, A. (2011). Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Penguin Press. Retrieved December 18, 2011 from http://www.npr.org/2011/01/11/132833376/tiger-mothers-raising-children-the-chinese-way