Everybody desires to succeed in whatever they do, whether young or old, rich or poor, famous or unknown, amateur or expert, leader or follower.
You may have heard many people say they desire to be successful, or probably some referred to as successful. It seems to be what many would look forward to or a status that means they have done well. What does success mean?
If you are familiar with managing files and folders in a computer programme, you would have produced and destroyed files and folders. If you create a new file, you will get a message to confirm the completion of the task—Success. If you then decide the delete the same file afterwards, you could hit the delete button. Another confirmation arrives to let you know that the action you intended has completed—deleted successfully.
The purpose of producing and destroying the file is not the same, one seems good while the other looks bad or opposite, but both resulted in success. I know some people that have deleted their files in error—they wanted it but triggered the action to destroy it—they also got a message of success. The success, in this case, is not the one they wanted because it has successfully destroyed what they would like to keep. You can imagine the reaction to such a message of success.
Why did the programme send a success message? Why did it consider it a success? It is simple—the task it got triggered to do got fulfilled, completing it becomes a success regardless of whether it is good or bad to the person that initiated it.
It is interesting to note that success does not necessarily mean a good thing or a bad thing. It could be good, but it could also be a bad thing—it is simply the measure of how well you have completed the desired task or the result of a chosen pursuit.
A student that decided to deceive his teacher that he is sick would have succeeded when the teacher believes the lie. He aimed to deceive—he achieved it. Though his plan succeeded, he is a deceiver. Considering only his goal would make him look successful, but reflecting on the deceit would vary the conclusion. He was successful in his plan, but he is guilty—a bad thing.
A politician that embezzles government funds without being caught would say that he completed the action favourably—that is what he set out to achieve. A colleague that disguises to rob another colleague without being noticed would be excited that his plan worked as thought. A young man that tricks a lady—to humiliate and molest her would probably have a sense of a job well completed. A leader causing harm and pain to those others under him may do so without any resistance. They may see their actions as a success, but it is affecting the lives of others negatively.
Many people succeed or fail in their plans—it may be good or bad. A thief that plans to steal to get money will have achieved his goal even though it is evil. On the other hand, a friend that works to get the same amount of money but could not has failed even though his aim was good. The thief may get the praise as successful, but his friend the condemnation as a failure.
The way we see and assess success or failure goes a long way in shaping how people behave and plan to achieve their goals. When the message or declaration is more important than how it is gotten, it could be the sign of a gradual process of the decadence of values and morals.
What is more important to you, and what would you like to achieve?
You may desire to get some more money, but the way you get it does not matter to you, even if it means stealing from others. Someone else may not do so well because how they get the money matters as well. They may fail and probably try for longer to get the same result.
Many people probably have succeeded in their aim but what they have done is not necessarily right or good. Many others would have failed but what they have done was not necessarily wrong or evil. I wonder what your choice would be—right or wrong. I wonder which message of success will make you glad—good or bad. You can do it does not mean you should do it.
A business manager may make more money by producing substandard goods. He could get a sense of success because he is making more money but robbed his customers to achieve it—lives are affected negatively.
An organisation that serves its community may aim to provide a thousand families with affordable food, for example. They may meet that target by subsiding the price of the food items, meaning that they would operate at a loss. They would have succeeded in their noble intention to help families. Some other organisations may see them as a failure in terms of financial gains—it all depends on what they want to be known to succeed in.
Some people may desire to become the head of their company, but they would destroy and frustrate everyone to get there. They may have succeeded in getting the position but are then surrounded by many frustrated, demoralised, and dissatisfied people in the organisation—it will reflect on their output.
You may declare yourself successful—it is what you want to achieve, it does not make it right or wrong. You have to decide to make your goals right and work towards achieving them. Let your success help others and not destroy them.
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