Spotlight :
Redefining the definition of success
By Izak Smit , PPS Group CEO
What does a life well-lived , a good life , look like ? Is it success , happiness or both ?
After sound reflection , most of us would probably agree that such a life is , indeed both . Drawing a two-by-two matrix , with happy and unhappy on the one axis and successful or not on the other , of course , we would want to be in that successful and happy quadrant . We certainly would not want to be unsuccessful and unhappy . I often test audiences on the other two quadrants : would they prefer success and being depressed , or happiness without success ? Almost all go for the happy but not successful one . This is interesting because many ( most ?) professionals often find themselves in the other : chasing success but not being truly happy . Depression , the opposite of happiness , is the sickness of our time and is often experienced by professionals .
But we can be both successful and happy ; we do not have to settle for the “ or ”. It can be an “ and ”. The theme of this edition of The Professional is success , so let us ponder this hairy topic for a moment .
The first obvious question is : what is a successful life ? And the obvious answer is : there is no universal definition ; it is a very personal answer . In the eyes of the world , success is often associated with wealth , a position , a successful business or perhaps a major innovative breakthrough or contribution in a professional career . And yet , many of these success stories are sometimes somewhat onedimensional , with other parts of the lives in these stories lacking in success , even decaying . We live in a society that can be fixated on a minimal notion of success . But it can also be so many other things . In the July 2022 edition of The Professional , I quoted Ralph
Waldo Emerson in my article entitled
What Shakespeare can teach us about life ’ s cycles . He said of success : “ To laugh often and much ; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children ; to leave the world a bit better , whether by a healthy child or a garden patch ; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived ; that is to have succeeded .”
What is your mark of success ? We must allow ourselves the time and space to reflect to answer this question . Confucius said : “ By three methods we may learn wisdom : first , by reflection , which is noblest ; second , by imitation , which is easiest ; and third , by experience , which is the most bitter .” Reflection is indeed a most productive way of unearthing important insights . And one of the best ways to reflect is to ask good questions . For example : How would I describe a successful
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