Geoffrey James is the writer of "Sales Source" on Inc.com which is the most visited business blog.
Geoffrey recently wrote an article for Inc.com about success and how we look at it backwards. His view is very similar to Shawn Achors view who gave the TED Talk on how we look at success backwards. Geoffrey had two graphs in his blog post that I found very interesting:
Most people think of success as the graph above. However they get there, happy or unhappy, if they are rich they are successful. No matter what they have to do they need to have a lot of money and nice things. This idea of success is flawed. If you are rich and not happy it is not worth it. All of the nice stuff you buy will not make you happy and you will find no enjoyment in your things. Also if you are not happy on your path to success it will be much harder to get there. It has been proven if you are happy doing something you will do a better job. Doing a better job will get you to success faster.
This second graph is a much better representation of what success should be. Your goal in life shouldn't be money and power and nice things but rather just to be happy. Happiness=Success. If you are doing something that you love in your life and surround yourself by people that you care about you are going to live a happy life. If while you are happy you happen to be rich it is just a great bonus. If you are happy and rich you are going to appreciate the nicer things you can now afford.
I'm sure there are people who agree with both graphs that define success. Which graph do you agree with?
I'm sure there are people who agree with both graphs that define success. Which graph do you agree with?
Are there exceptions to the second graph? If so what are they?
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