Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Success Conundrum

Everyone is striving for success. In their own way, each person wants to be successful. You see that at work, in the public arena, everywhere. But, what is success? "Success may mean, but is not limited to a level of social status, achievement of a goal, opposite of failure" says Wikipedia. The key words are "may mean" and "not limited to". It is quite clear that there is no one answer, no clear means of defining success.

Success means different things to different people. Like my dear friend once said, I will feel successful when each day I can decide what I want to do, free of any compulsions. I will feel successful when I can decide to do nothing at all, when I can afford to do just that. I debated if reaching this level of inertia is success. Contrary to this, Simon Sinek in his blog-post refers to success as a feeling of momentum., of progress, of taking a step forward. He puts forward a case for momentum being a measure of success. Read him at http://sinekpartners.typepad.com/refocus/2010/11/how-to-measure-success.html .

Inertia versus Momentum? Where does your vote go? Look at it in a corporate setting. Is it the big conglomerates like a General Electric which continue to do well with minimum effort or the new age companies like the Google which need to show technological progress everyday that catch your attention? Is it the relative inertia of the big corporations or the progressive momentum of the new age companies that qualify for success? Apply that same logic to your personal lives on what success means to you. When I look at it personally, success means reaching a state of happiness, where there is progress and momentum, but at the same time you don't feel the strain because it is not an effort. So, it is momentum and inertia together. It is enjoying what you do. It is being positive about what you do. It is being purposeful about what you do. And then, making progress and gaining constant momentum. Relative Inertia and Progressive Momentum, hand in hand, does this solve the success conundrum?

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