Success And Failure
Success is a difficult topic in our world and it causes lots of stress and anxiety in our capitalistic driven society.
Most of the time success is measured by the money someone had been able to generate. Others define it by the level of happiness achieved. Others define it by longterm wealth. Others define it by the awards they receive.
How do you define success?
I failed miserably in all of my projects until now when being measured by these criteria.
Measured By Uniqueness
I am 40 years old now, so there is still a long way to go in life and I just started over again.
Keep in mind, that the average age of entrepreneurs, starting their way to success is around 40 years.
I don’t call my past projects failures. I call them tests and tasting while the world was not ready for my longterm goals.
I identify patience as one of my most important concepts. You need one shot to get it done right when it all comes together. This is the way I live, while my entire family lives a constant career as teachers, accumulating wealth like it is probably more secure to do, while they spent a large amount of their energy on a very social mission by helping those in difficult situations.
I do not have a mindset of a scientist or engineer. I don’t even want to experiment at the beginning of a technological revolution. This is too risky to be a part of, as some get really wealthy but most will fail big time and struggle to recover.
Participating in the experimental phase is annoying and stressful so I leave this to the real geniuses who want to discover and explore new grounds. I got an insight into this early phase in development with AI, when a friend of mine introduced me to a course of AI and robotics in 2002 at the university. Then it was just a scientific game and I did not touch the topic anymore until 2016 when it became relevant due to the speed of computers and the new possibilities of automation.
Failure Is Your Biggest Asset To Achieve Success
Due to my illness, there was a time when I was not able to work. If I have had a job at the time I would possibly have struggled less, but it is very difficult to present for a job when you should be strong and you are not.
It takes me longer to recover than I could have imagined as skin problems take a long time to heal completely. There have been many experiences during the process I would not miss at all.
What does not kill you makes you stronger.
There is no way to make these experiences I went through in a classical career.
The Trap Of Fast Success
Concerning success I think we need to get a step back and think about, if we really want it to be the mindset of our generation to just make success about more money and get rich at a young age like some big Youtube-, Facebook- and Instagram stars have demonstrated.
Is it healthy to think of success just as financial achievments?
I just read a story about a 19 years old kid who’s ideal it was to create and run a Billion $ company. Then he failed and it took him years to overcome his failure.
The case of winning a lottery is very connected to this situation of fast success. Everyone wants to win the lottery, right? Statistics, unfortunately, show, that most of those who win the lottery will spend the new fortune without any plan and get back into where they came from. It can get even worse if these individuals use their wealth as security for credits and by not understanding the system they get thrown into a deadly depth spiral.
Working Hard To Master Life
I really prefer to work hard for my achievements and go through all the suffering it takes to master life.
In my point of view, the most difficult thing is to know what you truly want to do with your life and find a way to deal with all the challenges we face in our daily routines.
What is it you want to live for?
What is it that makes you happy or satisfied?
How much do you actually need?
Are you ready to do what it takes to achieve your satisfaction?
Are you ready to start over and transform it all completely again and again?
For me transforming over and over again is the essence of my life and I am sure your essence is different than mine!
Measure Your Success By Helping Others
I think we should measure our success in making others happy on earth and try to create a healthy environment for all of us, not getting the most out for myself.
When I had enough energy and some money I always supported others, but I had to learn one very important thing!
You can only provide real help over a longer period of time and be a rock in the breakwater if you are financially and mentally stable and independent.
A Discussion Of Values
In a global sharing economy we are moving into, values and the possibility of accumulating wealth are shifting in comparison to the old offline world.
We are a lot more exposed to the public and have to deal with comments, likes and critics.
I think, one of the biggest questions concerning our own valuation is the question: AM I WORTH IT?
This question implicates many questions about our own shame and fears of stepping into the unknown and finding out about our own value.
To risk failure, be it in the work environment or on the personal side by getting into a relationship is crucial to make success happen! If you just stay in the secure space and do what you are supposed to do, you will not be able to fall.
Here in Switzerland, we practice a culture, where failing is a lot more difficult than in places like the USA. If you fail in business it is a lot more difficult to get back up and do it over again as for example, we have a different legal framework concerning bankruptcy. You can’t declare bankruptcy, walk away from the loss you created and start over again. The depth will stay to a certain level.
The job market as well is very much focused on a straight CV in a very conservative way.
I was at a job interview lately and the recruiter started to go through my CV (she had an older version present and didn’t even study it before the appointment) and she was just looking for a straight career. My life is everything else than straight and I did many things at the same time, had different contracts as a freelancer and built my business while running many different projects.
It still doesn’t count in the jobmarket here if you are ready to take a risk and expose yourself to experience failure.
Does it count for me? Do I value myself for what I did?
Sure I do! I did more than many others who sticked to the plan and by trying out different things I tapped into the unknown.
I really think we are missing out big time in our society by not valuing those who are ready to take risks and try out new things. This conservativism I experience here in Switzerland will most probably kick us in the but soon with the accelerating speed of development. It is certainly slowing us down when it comes to innovation.
Conclusions
Success is not a one time event! Success is mastering the challenges in life over time!
In a time where many people will lose their jobs and will experience a certain failure I really think we have to find new definitions of success in our society.
We see those who are just working for their own pockets as stars. They made it, but did their accumulated wealth make them happy?
Would money alone make you happy or do you have to work also on many other issues in your life to find happiness?
How do you measure your success and failure in life?
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