The Success Delusion

I overheard this self-declared spiritual master having a conversation with his friend: ”I know more successful people than you do.”  His friend: ”Well I know Mr. Bla Bla”. He then replied ”But I am talking about billionaires, is he a billionaire?” ”Yes he is a billionaire.” Is that spanking each other’s egos or what?

It really makes me cringe when "spiritual" people (or anyone!) define success by how much wealth one has accumulated. It really does not help that books like "The Secret" are the newest religion amongst the "enlightened" either. I basically opened the cover, flipped a few pages, and as soon as I saw the taglines "What kind of a house you want to live in? Do you want to be a millionaire? What kind of business do you want to have? Do you want more success?" I knew the book was not for me. I have no doubt the law of attraction works, but my immediate gut feeling was that the book only seems to be creating more desire. I refuse to believe that increasing one's wants creates more happiness, in my mind it is quite the contrary. 

So I decided to stay away from "The Secret" to success. I have my own ideas on the subject. How about looking at people through what kind of an impact they have on other people around them, or on the nature, or the animals? How about seeing successful people as those who have courage to speak up, who have found their path or are rigorously searching for it, who are happy in the moment, who are fighting an illness, who make time for their family, who are not afraid to be open, who can admit their flaws?

Some of us consciously go against this success delusion, taking low-paying jobs over high salaries because the things we value the most in life simply have nothing to do with money or social status.