Why the Goal of "Successful Life" is making you miserable

Let me ask you a question, who is more successful - Bill Gates, or Elon Musk?

Now, people will give three answers:

- One is "Elon musk is more successful".

- Second is "Bill Gates is more successful".

- Third is "It's difficult to say".

If your answer was one of the first two of the above, then you need to know that your answer is just an opinion, not a concrete fact. And opinion tends to vary from person to person.

But if your answer was similar to the third one, then you are right. We don't know who is more successful.

But why is that?

Because Success is not defined

Yep, it's that simple. There is no way to measure how much successful a person is. There is no universal scale.

Sure, your version of success can be based on someone's popularity, how much money he has, how much power he has, etc. But the different scales you are using to measure success are just mere opinions. Maybe they are right for you, but not for others.

For you, having lots of money is a successful life. For someone else, a life dedicated to the society is a successful life. You get the point. Success's definition varies from person to person.

So what's the problem?

Well, the problem is that when we chase the goal of a "Successful Life", then we often look for examples. Now that's where everything goes wrong.

When people look for examples of a successful life, they either choose the right path or the wrong path.

Let's first talk about the wrong path, and understand this with an example: A person wants to be like Elon Musk because he thinks that Elon musk is living a successful life because he has money, name, fame, etc. This path is the wrong one. And I think I don't need to tell you where this path leads to, right?

Now, coming to the right path. You might see Elon musk as a successful person, and now you want to be like him. But this time you are looking for the good signs. You want to be Elon because he has done many great things for the whole world, and you see this as a success. You want to make an impact. This is the right path. You are now looking for the right signs that can actually change your life.

But that's not it.

The problem with the right path:

Everything looks good with the right path, except it isn't. So, before you proceed to walk on the right path, just hear this argument:

You want to be like Elon Musk because he has helped people, right? But why you don't want to be like Mother Teresa? She has helped many people. If you think helping people is a way to live a successful life, then she should also be a great inspiration for you.

So what you will you do? Will you open a space company like Elon Musk? Or will you do what Mother Teresa did?

That's where conflict arises. And I can say that you will most probably take a bad decision. Why? Because you are influenced. You will choose a work which you don't like to achieve that "Successful Life" even when the cause is good.

It is similar to when an elephant wants to eat but he chooses to hunt like a lion because he thinks hunting makes the Lion look cool. Now, the elephant will start hunting other animals to achieve the same swag as the lion but is definitely going to fail. Why? Because he is an elephant and he is choosing a path of a lion. The goal of Eating is in itself is not wrong, but the path that the elephant chose is wrong. Okay, I will stop now. But you got the point.

In short words: Your purpose may be right, but your path can be wrong. You might get influenced by other people's success stories so much that you may choose the wrong path to achieve a non-existing goal.

The Right Path Doesn't Exist:

I only explained the concept of right path and wrong path because most people will raise that argument.

The truth is - There is no right path. There is only a wrong path, and a path that you like to walk and leads to the same goal.

Planting a million trees, or earning million dollars - if you ask me which one of these two goals leads to a successful life, then I will say "I don't know". It's all about perspective, and what is important for you.

So, please don't open a tech company just because you think it will give you a successful life.

A Question For You:

If everything I have said above got you a little confused, then let me make it clear by asking you a simple question: A person x has money, name, fame, and he has helped many people. He also contributed his life to society. But now, he falls into the bad habits of smoking, drinking, gambling, etc. And then he dies.

So do you think he lived a successful life?

Think about it for some time.

Summary:

Stop looking at other people and think that they are more successful than you. Even when everyone thinks that your life is not a successful life, remember there is no definition of a successful life. Maybe, the people who you think are successful are miserable from the inside. Who knows?

We can never compare a singer with a writer, and writer with a football player, and a football player with a swimmer. We know that they have achieved success in their career. But we can never know if they are living a successful life or not. Sure, we can ask them if they are happy and satisfied.

So, don't take your life decisions by looking at other people's lives. Do what you think is right for you even when everyone says different. Understand what is important to you, and what work 'you' like.

If you want to do something, then choose your own path to do it, a path that you like. Otherwise, you will trade your life's happiness for a thing that doesn't even exist.

Let me Quote this for you:

"Success can only be achieved in a task, and life is not a task. No one's life is a success or a failure. Everyone's Life is just……life"

On this note, let's end this article here..

Thank you for reading.