Thoughts on Success (I)

Let's face it.

Singapore is an achievement-oriented country.

Often, our worth in society is measured by how good our results are, do we have additional talents, what is our first job, even our part-time jobs pursued during university days get commented on...

Perhaps because of this, there is some degree of elitism in every single level of the so-called social hierarchy. Someone is always looking up towards someone or some thing (i.e. "I want to be a banker like my cousin", "I want to wear luxurious clothing, so I need to work hard now to afford it all next time"). Someone is always looking down on someone else (i.e. "You're just a waiter", "You're just an 'O' level holder"). It's a vicious cycle like that.

I find it difficult to define 'success'. It's just subjective and so personal that success in one person's life can be entirely different from success in another person's life. Loosely speaking, success for me is being the best in what you do. Of course I'm talking about legitimate occupations, technical skill sets or soft skills. Being really good at sleeping for long durations of time without waking up is not success, no matter how well you do it. Haha.

A successful butcher is one who is good at sourcing, evaluating, cutting, treating meat, has a wide and loyal customer base etc.
A successful chef is one who is good at creating recipes, replicating tastes, infusing different cultures into a plate, plating and making delectable food etc.
A successful pop star is one that is good at creating songs, communicating stories through song, performing and entertaining, reinventing himself/herself etc.

Success is being the best in what you do. 

Wealth and personal recognition (as per the classical view of success) are great, but they are bonus items. The feeling of fulfilment and self-satisfaction that "I've achieved it" certainly doesn't fill our tummies, but that is the primary core motivation that makes one keep moving on to achieve bigger goals. I mean sure, there will always be outliers and people who just do it for the money. Or others who find it really win-win that they can do something they love and get paid for it too.

You can call me romantic but I'm pretty uncomfortable about monetizing things I love doing. I find the action of putting a price on a favourite activity takes out the vitality, joy, happiness, relaxation that the activity gives you. That kind of return is priceless.

Say I'm a tennis player. It makes me happy playing tennis, and I love playing tennis to relieve stress, relax, get fit etc. Moving to being a professional player in my opinion, takes away those 'benefits' of playing tennis. As a stress reliever, it becomes a pressure-giver and so on...

Whatever money you get doing what you love is a BONUS and should never the main reason why you do it.  

I'm a practical person, so doing it for the money should be like my thing but sometimes seeing money as the sole goal can drain you of every other 'happy' benefit and from a bigger perspective, is that really practical for your general well-being? Is it really worth it?

Life is an experience. So make it good. A whole experience about chasing money down pavements just sounds incredibly exhausting and boring.

Because the fact is that the money will never be enough.

Success. Success is what you make it.