It’s an interesting and sometimes difficult task, to which the results are rather arbitrary depending on the person considering the question. During my job search, I’ve continued to look for jobs that will make me successful and happy, and lead me to achieve the goals that I’ve set for myself. Just for fun, I did a wikipedia search of ‘success’ to find:
Success may mean, but is not limited to:
* a level of social status
* achievement of an objective/goal
* the opposite of failure
* the succession of successfully executed tasks and successes
Interesting isn’t it that social status ranks above personal objectives or goals? It’s also interesting on how vast the difference of definition of success is from person to person, country to country, and culture to culture. Many define success by having X-amount of money, some define it as landing that perfect job, having a nice house, and more or less simply having having things.
I see success as living in a place that I love, regardless of the money that I’m making, because I’ve found that the sights and sounds around me are often what I cherish and enjoy most in life, rather than things that I possess. When I think of the things in life that I’m most proud of in my life thus far, it isn’t my cars, the fancy apartment I lived in for 2 years, or the clothes on my back. This isn’t to say I don’t like those things, but they aren’t the things that make me who I am. I’m proud that I was able to travel to the places that I’ve gone so far, and the people who I’ve met in those places.
I often get funny looks from people who ask me my ‘plan’ now that I’ve graduated, who are often expecting the usual: find a job, get an apartment, get married, have kids, etc.. I was in an interview for a job a few weeks back and the interviewer asked me where I’d like to be in 5 years, to which I could only smile. I answered “I’d like to be living in Asia, making enough money to live and pay my student loans, and enjoying my surroundings”. He looked at me funny, obviously.
My outlook is a little different than most of my friends and people I know. I think about the large majority of the workforce in the US right now, and I guess just don’t understand. What I mean is, 1-2 weeks out of the year, everyone packs up, goes somewhere warm/tropical for vacation, and comes back and talks about how much they wish they could go back. My view is, why not live in the place that you love, rather then just visiting for 7 of the 365 days out of the year? Sure, you have to work, and do all of the normal things that people do all over the world, but during the off work hours, there is no reason you shouldn’t love the place where you are.
I’m writing this with the understanding that sure, many people do love where they live. Many people love living in Ohio, or the United States for that matter. I think there are many things here that you cannot find anywhere else. However, I’d argue that many people are afraid to take the leap and move somewhere that they’ve always dreamed about.
So I guess that’s my ‘plan’. I’d like to live somewhere that I love, have a great family (which I already have), be surrounded with friendly people, making enough money to live. That’s how I define success, how would you define success?
