Reflection: How Do We Measure Our Success?

How do we measure our success in life? What does it even mean to live a successful life?

Moreover, what yardstick do we use to measure this success? Do we measure it against our own internal sense of what is right or wrong? Or are we measuring against society's prescribed yardstick for what success is supposed to look like?

I'm not typically one who rails against "the system." I've never found it to be a very efficient thing to do, and I'm instead one of those people who likes to work within the system and find places where I can insert myself and bebenfit from those things that suit me, and potentially undermine things that don't suit me and change them in such a way that they might suit me down the road... all the while I don't attract too much attention to myself while doing so.

In other words, I'm not about battling and tearing down, I'm about infiltrating and changing.

What does this have to do with "measuring success?"

Well, it goes some of the way towards explaining that "making big splashes" has never been any of the yardsticks by which I measure my own success. Part of what I consider "success" is accomplishing something that resembles what I wanted to achieve... without anyone else really noticing or paying attention.

I suppose part of that tendency was bred into me from childhood when we would travel to foreign countries to live for a while, and my parents were always very insistent that we do our very best to "blend in" to the local population.

"Sticking out" makes you a target.

My own measure of success is a very personal and private thing that generally doesn't have a lot of overlap with the societally established norms.

Sure, it includes some of the standard things like "living a debt-free life," but otherwise includes very few of the typical material trappings people mostly associate with "success."

I have also never been very interested in things like "influence" and having "power;" I'm far more oriented to skating below the radar.

Sure, I'd definitely like to own some crypto!

Someone once observed that I am somewhat of a "grey man," and I think that's a fairly appropriate characterization, and in a sense hearing that was a measure of "success."

In most cases, I just try to "do well," while not obsessively trying to be "the winner" or "the best."

Of course, these measures of success are highly individualized, and yours will likely be very different from mine!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Sunday!

How about you? How do YOU measure success? Does the measure come from yourself, or is it based on societal norms? How do you know whether you've reached it? Do leave a comment! After all, this is SOCIAL media, so why not be part of the conversation?

***This is original content, created expressly for this platform. All text and images are my own, unless otherwise noted!

2023.07.23 01:17 PDT