I hate to post this so quickly following my other thread but I think they are ultimately tied together. What is you definition of success? What makes you feel or think that you have achieved something? Is it praise from others, money earned, social status, simply being able to do something, etc..?
For me my idea of what success is has changed drastically over the years. When I was younger, it was more so praise from others and social status. I didn't want to be the center of attention but I wanted to be recognized for my accomplishments. I wanted to be someone who was respected, looked up too, sought for advice and of course wealth would never hurt. Things have changed though as I start to enter my adult years and I have experienced a few traumatic events in my life.
Death has a weird way of making things seem very shallow and that is basically how my perception has changed when it comes to being recognized. Before I wanted to be recognized just so I could essentially feel better than everybody else, now I find myself feeling awkward and uncomfortable when people praise me. It just doesn't feel right because so many other people have accomplished what I have and greater, yet not enough praise is given to them. Also what I have done is minor compared to what I hope to accomplish yet positive reinforcement is good now and again but I feel too much of it can be debilitating.
Honestly, sometimes I feel like instead of wasting our time always praising each other about minor accomplishments, we should apply it to a better use like further advancing ourselves. So much time and money is spent in almost all settings praising people for minor accomplishments when instead it could be used to actually promote something useful like further production. Why must people receive a pat on the back for every little thing they do? Can they not find enough motivation in themselves to accomplish something because in the bigger picture by doing so it helps them and everybody else? Is everybody honestly so selfish that they cannot do something if it does not have an immediate benefit to them? It honestly makes no sense to me that people cannot see past the immediate gratitude and see that if we did not waste so much time, we could accomplish so much more. Of course there has to be balance and be praise for some of the bigger accomplishments but the over excessive praise is useless.
Before I rant anymore, I am going to get to my main point. For me, my idea of what success will be in the long term is; dying having made things better for the world as whole, or for my family, or for my close personal relationships, than how it was when I was born. How I achieve this, is another story entirely but I do have some ideas. Not all of them will work but part of life is trying and failing and trying again.
For me my idea of what success is has changed drastically over the years. When I was younger, it was more so praise from others and social status. I didn't want to be the center of attention but I wanted to be recognized for my accomplishments. I wanted to be someone who was respected, looked up too, sought for advice and of course wealth would never hurt. Things have changed though as I start to enter my adult years and I have experienced a few traumatic events in my life.
Death has a weird way of making things seem very shallow and that is basically how my perception has changed when it comes to being recognized. Before I wanted to be recognized just so I could essentially feel better than everybody else, now I find myself feeling awkward and uncomfortable when people praise me. It just doesn't feel right because so many other people have accomplished what I have and greater, yet not enough praise is given to them. Also what I have done is minor compared to what I hope to accomplish yet positive reinforcement is good now and again but I feel too much of it can be debilitating.
Honestly, sometimes I feel like instead of wasting our time always praising each other about minor accomplishments, we should apply it to a better use like further advancing ourselves. So much time and money is spent in almost all settings praising people for minor accomplishments when instead it could be used to actually promote something useful like further production. Why must people receive a pat on the back for every little thing they do? Can they not find enough motivation in themselves to accomplish something because in the bigger picture by doing so it helps them and everybody else? Is everybody honestly so selfish that they cannot do something if it does not have an immediate benefit to them? It honestly makes no sense to me that people cannot see past the immediate gratitude and see that if we did not waste so much time, we could accomplish so much more. Of course there has to be balance and be praise for some of the bigger accomplishments but the over excessive praise is useless.
Before I rant anymore, I am going to get to my main point. For me, my idea of what success will be in the long term is; dying having made things better for the world as whole, or for my family, or for my close personal relationships, than how it was when I was born. How I achieve this, is another story entirely but I do have some ideas. Not all of them will work but part of life is trying and failing and trying again.