I was speaking to someone about purpose and
that triggered other things. Most people tend to relate purpose to success and
success to being rich and being rich to being wealthy and I suppose once they
are wealthy purpose has been achieved. That mentality is certainly passed down
from one generation to the next.
This post is more the conversations that
ensued than it is the subject matter itself. When people speak of success; they
are right in referring to it in terms of financial success. Phrases such as ‘I
just want to be successful’, ‘God bless my hustle’, etcetera are way too common,
supporting the argument for the perception of viewing success only in monetary
terms. My question now is "Success at the expense of what
?"
If you read/listen the biographies or auto
biographies of the layman’s idea of a successful man you would realize that so
much goes into that financial success. Hard work (yes), determination (double
yes), discipline (yes) and we could go on. What we fail to realize is that they
sacrificed things and people in order to attain 'success'. Take Warren Buffet
for instance, he was hard working yet he neglected his wife and children. To fail
as a husband is bad enough, but to fail as a father is worse because those
children didn’t ask to be born. However, in the divine scheme of things they
were meant to be here and as a father you owe them, at the very least, to be
'present' and to be more involved in their lives than a stranger would. I could
go on and on about the friendships he salvaged but I'm sure my point has been
passed across. It is in my opinion that we must endeavour to get a point
in life where we want more than -than just- financial success because you are
only truly successful when you touch lives of people not just far away from you
but also your loved ones.
In pursuit of financial success, there are
prices to be paid - hard work, commitment, dedication -but beware of the hidden
costs and trade-offs. In the search of your 'treasures' remember to keep close
to heart those, albeit, in the background who have also made this journey with
you. Afterall, what is a treasure if it leaves a bad taste in our mouth once
discovered ?
