Saturday, April 10, 2010

The Secret to success

In order to find the secret to success, you must first define success. I do not mean the dictionary version of the word, but rather what success means to the individual. If having a lot of money makes you happy, then maybe the dictionary definition is right.
The Beatles had a song called “money can’t buy me love”, and most people that don’t have money would argue that statement because they need that money to survive. But is it really the money that makes us happy, or is it the ability of being able to provide for a loved one. There is no happiness without love, and to me, success means happiness. Whether it is love for family or even your job, if there is love – happiness is sure to come.
The majority of rich people a just as unhappy as poor people because they haven’t found what truly makes them happy. A poor man working 3 jobs to provide for his family, in my eyes, can be defined as successful because he has love from his family. Another guy working 6 hour a day and making $250,000 per year could be miserable because he may not have any love from his family. So, in this case the poor man envies the rich man because the he has to work harder to get a small amount of money and the rich man envies the poor man because he has what he really wants. So, which one is successful? Well, in the dictionary’s definition, the rich man is successful. With my interpretation of success, the poor man is successful because he is happy.
I had to learn this for myself the hard way. When I was young, I didn’t have much money, and I was under the impression that success meant having a lot of money. I then decided that I would become successful by working the oil rigs. The first two months was great because I earned more money in one month then I use to earn in one year. Although I had a lot of money, I soon realized that I was unhappy. I hated my job and I never had any time to spend with my family. Every morning I would get up, go to work, and ask myself why. Twice a month I would be reminded why a work a job that I hate, but the next day the money was usually gone. I soon realized that I never made more money, I just spent more. It took a car accident to finally realize that I was wasting my life working a job that I hated. Now, I don’t have much money, but I have a family that loves me and I am doing something that I love – working on cars. I now believe that I am truly successful.
That being said, I think the secret to success is to find something you love and pursue it.

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