What is Success in America?

Many people in America today would define success in terms of money or power. What type of car you drive, or what kind of job you have. And while I can understand these measures of success, I can also easily argue against them. Just because you have a high income and you might be a CEO of a company are you successful if you are unhappy? And while I won't get into another spiel about how the goal of life is to find one's happiness, I do want to point out that one person's view of success might be very different from the next. However, for this blog post I will stick to the typical measures of success, such as money and education and ponder how one obtains such success.

When I think of how to describe America in terms of all of the people who live here, the only accurate way I can describe it is as a melting pot of different cultures and races. And although many groups seem to compete with each other within the US, and although there are many stereotypes of different cultures and races, the truth is that there is no one group that is more successful from the next. A great article titled "What Drives Success?" was published this past week in the New York Times. It talks about what traits a person, or a group of people, must have in order to be successful. More specifically the authors, Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld, of this article claim that there are three specific traits that drive success: a superiority complex, insecurity, and impulse control.

"In isolation, each of these three qualities would be insufficient. Alone, a superiority complex is a recipe for complacency; mere insecurity could be crippling; impulse control can produce asceticism. Only in combination do these qualities generate drive and what Tocqueville called the “longing to rise.”"

 The authors argue that although a superiority complex and insecurity might contradict each other, its the unstable combination that generates the drive to be successful, "
a chip on the shoulder, a goading need to prove oneself." When you add the ability to resist impulse, then you find a person that will put aside instant gratification in order to pursue their future, or long-term success. 

While the authors makes a very persuasive argument, I think the most profound idea that the authors point out is that although a person, or group of people, may gain success, if they don't keep a balance of these three traits, than they can easily fall out of such success. A Ted Talk given by Richard St. John supports this point and simply explains the mechanics of success within a couple of minutes. 

 I think I can speak for everyone when I say that the easiest way to measure success is whether or not a person achieved the goal or dream they set for themselves. However, what this article points out, is that we can't just be satisfied with achieving just a single goal. Instead once we are successful in obtaining such dream, we need to pursue another dream or set another goal for ourselves. So if we all must constantly strive to be successful, even when we have reached our goal or dream, than isn't the biggest success in the journey of personal development? Aren't we all striving to become better individuals? Then why isn't that how we measure success?

Signing off,

Seeker of Success