So why do you want success? Why do you want to achieve your goals? What’s in it for you?
There’s a new Cadillac ad. It’s really troubling. It suggests that success is about working hard so that we can get expensive toys… but that there’s really no time to enjoy them… because we need to work hard to get expensive toys.
Buckle up and take a ride:
This is a sad reflection of our weary, hollow culture. Success measured by how busy we are… how many hours we work… how hard we labor… how few days off we take… how little time we spend in joy… .
Success measured by the number of victims we leave on the battlefield of achievement, as collateral damage; by the sacrifices we make of our very selves.
Is this really what success is all about?
Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post, says that “[S]uccess as we’ve defined it is no longer sustainable. It’s not sustainable for human beings; it’s not sustainable for the planet.”
Success is not just money and power, Huffington suggests. There is, she says, a ‘third metric,’ of success; one comprised of ‘well-being, wisdom, wonder and giving back.’
One that honors spaciousness, mindfulness, reflection, relationship and joy.
Huffington’s commencement address at Smith College was a call to arms:
If we ‘succeed’ at the expense of our families, our friends, our emotional health, our physical health, our spiritual health and our environment, what have we succeeded at?
Success, at it’s core, is the highest and best expression of our selves in the world. It is reflected in the way in which we share our unique gifts; the lives we touch, the hearts we heal, the impact we make, and the legacy we leave behind.
It is living fully and loving deeply. With purpose and passion. It is measured not by what we hold back, not be what we accumulate, but by what we give.
It is showing up every day with a servant’s heart. Playing full out. Holding nothing back. Leaving it all on the field.
It is about reveling in the joy of Creation and an abundant Universe.
Success by any other definition is just not worth it.
N’est-ce pas?
What a great message. I finally had time to watch that commercial and listen to Arianna. Is the world (America) ready to change? Since we are sensationalizing people like Jordan Belfort, I think not, but we can each minister to our own selves and try to get it right while we have time.