Does Having a Successful Career Always Translate to Living a Successful Life?
This question came up strong in my mind last weekend when I met a successful stock investment consultant who was obviously not living a life that can be said to be successful.
He told me how good his job was paying him and helping him to live good in terms of been able to provide for his needs and that of his family. He was appreciated by his employers and his clients for his profound knowledge and ability to recommend profitable stocks. There is no doubt that he was having a successful career, which was heading for even greater successes in the near future.
Anyone would have considered him extremely lucky to be in such a lucrative career and wished they had his life and success. But beneath the seeming success of this fellow is a great pain and a feeling of emptiness. The success he has labored to achieve in his career has in no way reflected in his life, for he is an unhappy man.
When I inquired why he was feeling this way, he opened up and told me there was nothing he loved more than to work with his hands. He deeply loves art and to craft materials into beautiful items. That’s what gives him joy and fulfilment. And that’s where he can truly see his life as been successful.
By the time he showed me some items he crated with beads, I didn’t need any further clue to understand why he never considered himself living a successful life with stock investment consultancy – they were simply gorgeous!
This man is certainly not alone living this kind of life. In fact, millions of people all over the world who may seem to be successful in their careers actually live a life of sadness, depression and frustration. But how is it possible for someone not to live a successful life, in spite of being successful on their job? you may want to know.
The not so obvious reason for this is that a lot of people do not know their values in life. They don’t know what they really want their life to be. They easily get influenced by their environment, friends, colleagues, television, parents, etc., and then make choices, which they would eventually come to find don’t lead them to a successful life.
To ensure a successful life, and avoid falling into this pit of lifelong sadness, or to lift oneself from it and take position to walk through the success pathway of life, we should right away begin to take control of our lives. We must not allow our choices to be dictated to us by external influences, but from our values, which are what we really want in life.
Your success in life is in your own hand. Write out your present values [because our values may change after sometime] according to how they are important to you and make every decision based on it, including your career choice and goals, your heath, partners, etc.
A simple list of what is strongly important to us in life, such as this:
Family
Love
Freedom
Security
Passion
Etc
can help us to find true and lasting success in life if we make it a habit to always consider it whenever we have to make a decision that could affect our lives.
For instance, if your topmost life value is Family as in the above list, to experience inner peace, fulfilment and joy therefore, which undoubtedly sum up to living a successful life, you will decline any engagement that would take you away from your family for long, whatever benefits it may provide. Failure to heed this would be walking in the opposite side of living a successful life.