I think the key to success is understanding that there are many different ways to be successful.
Donald Trump has been successful at making money and getting himself into a position of power, but does that mean that he is successful as a human being? Has he been successful as a public servant? Has he used his money to successfully help anyone but himself?
I just think that you can have success doing anything that's worth doing in life. You can be a success at parenting, you could have a successful relationship, you can even be successful at living modestly. As long as you're alive and you have clothes on your back, shelter, food and water then you're successfully surviving.
I think that we sometimes equate success with status or wealth and it's teaching kids that to be a success they have to be greedy, materialistic and self serving to a degree. I kinda think our whole idea of success is detrimental to actual success. I don't think making a fortune and having nannies raise our children is success in my opinion, but that's what a lot of really "Successful" people do.
Success does not just mean wealth and status it's more about being kind to others, taking care of your responsibilities and pursuing whatever in the world makes you happy. If you can do those things then you're successful in my opinion and it takes courage to be that kind of successful in a world that revolves around money and power. So my answer to this question is "Courage."
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at September 11, 2017 6:09 PM MDT
Courage? To take chances you mean and be prepared for failure? I'm not quite sure I understand your answer my friend. Now I totally agree with what you said about the nature of success. It isn't always about money and power and fame. In fact it very rarely is. Being a successful human being to me means being kind and honest and thoughtful and supportive. Whom you are is evidenced by how you treat others. That is a real test of success in my opinion. How you treat others. If you treat them shabbily it doesn't matter much what else you do it won't make up for mistreating others. Thank you for your reply Truthseeker and Happy Monday! :)
Thanks By courage, I mean it takes courage to follow your own path and to determine your own success. I knew a guy who's family wanted him to be a engineer. He got amazing grades, went to university and completed all of the engineering courses etc. needed. He is totally qualified as an engineer, but he doesn't like engineering so he decided to pursue becoming a teacher instead despite what his very "Successful" family wanted. Now be is a highschool teacher and he is very happy working with students and making a normal salary. He's successful in my opinion and it took courage for him to follow his own path. That's what I mean by courage being an important ingredient for success. Thanks. : )
Appreciate the expanding on and clarification of what you meant. Another way to look at it though is to be true to yourself. You can't go wrong doing that. Other people's expectations of you and for you aren't nearly as important as yours and it doesn't matter if you're brilliant at something or lousy at it. Do you LOVE doing it? As children we are controlled by our parents and have to follow orders. But once you reach adulthood and don't depend upon them to "take care of you" then it's all on you to be authentic. It isn't that hard. In fact it's easy peasy. That way you never have to pretend anything. Thank you for your thoughtful reply Truthseeker and Happy Tuesday.
I agree with the other AM'er... I like some words in this song that says, 'some cats got it, some cats ain't'... It brings back a 1957 memory...
This post was edited by Beans/SilentGeneration at September 11, 2017 5:13 AM MDT
You mean how to get people to do things? How to manipulate others? I'm not sure that I totally understand your answer Malizz. Apologies. Could you expand on it please and clarify what you mean? Thank you for your reply and Happy Monday m'dear! :)
I mean intelligence about how the society you're in works. Manipulating others is antisocial; getting people to do things can be either sociable or antisocial depending the context.
We may be parsing words here. If you can get others to do what you want them to do isn't it manipulative? How can it be sociable and NOT manipulative? You can order them or demand of them or coerce them or intimidate them or trick them or feed them what they want to hear very nicely and sweetly. You might even be so good at it that they think it was their idea not yours. No matter how you do it you are still getting what you want from them however it is effected. So perhaps we are dealing with dat old debbil SEMANTICS. Thank you for your reply and Happy Tuesday!
Benedict Arnold 