I talked to one of my colleague this morning. To make things easier,
let’s call him Peter. Peter is an acting manager to an estate here but
he’s going to retire next year. I actually asked him whether he will
apply for extension and maybe then he will be confirmed as a manager. He
simply answered “No, I don’t need the “Manager” title to become
successful. I am already successful by my own definition.”
That simple sentence had left me speechless (For a few seconds of course).
I then continued to ask him what he meant by that. He spent the next
30 minutes telling me how he had managed to send his son and daughter to
do medicine. He told me how hard it was for him to find almost $100K to
ensure his children get the best from him.
Truly inspiring.
However this entry is not about the sacrifice made by parents for their children.
It is about how the word “Success” is defined differently from one
person to another. Some may consider becoming a manager is a success.
Another will consider bringing up successful children as their success.
Personally, I think Peter’s ultimate success is when he had figured out his personal definition of success. He
defined the word success for him to strive. He knows that money and
ranks are not success (at least not to him). That is why he didn’t
bother to ask for extension and strive for that “Manager” title.
I find this very interesting. Don’t you?
If I can ask you one question, what’s your definition of success?
Peter did give me one tip to help me answer that question. If you
answer “Becoming a millionaire” as your definition of success, and you
have made it as a millionaire, can you still smile and say “my life is
complete” knowing that today is your last day of your life.
———— Personal Note ————-
Let say the world has a king. He is so powerful that nobody can disagree with him. Everybody is so afraid of him, the world is at peace.
Let say that king exists. Who do you think in this world that is even
more powerful that he can touch the king’s head and the king will not
mind?