A few people recently have shared their “success recipes”. One comes from Elena Lenina, the most famous Russian in modern France. According to her, success is granted on the following four conditions: 1) high work ethic; 2) sincere interest in other people; 3) a high professional level that increases every day; 4) only in the sphere where you can work for free you may become a millionaire.
Chris Brogan has just published a post where he also contemplated the “particles” of success:
Success, you see, isn’t a mansion and a yacht. Success is living the life you want and doing the work you’re best at doing with the people you know will help you reach the next level. Success means working on projects that you know will fulfill a deep felt passion within you, and yet, will feed your family. Success is knowing that you’ve built a thriving network of people who all work hard to grow each other’s capabilities. Success means finding a next angle and vectoring your efforts towards growing that out. Success means having the means and capability to make better decisions. Success means getting home in time for dinner. Success means leaving the house when I want to, and staying home with the kids when I want to, all while making a future for my family.
Lastly, Seth Godin questioned a curious fact: do successful people turn certain things into an epitome of success, or do certain things, so-called success symbols, make those who own them successful?
The common ground that all three – one woman and two men – would certainly share is that the attributes of success do not make one successful. They do certainly show that the person can afford something, but by no means compensate for the feeling of inadequacy or this crippling knowledge that without these symbols and emblems one’s life is rather uneventful.
I want all of us, however successful we already are, to avoid compensating for the lack of success, and instead to focus on doing what we want to do that will bring us fulfilment and happiness.