Mar 21
Success Poll Confusion
I’m somewhat confused with the results of the current poll “To be successful in life, all I need is a…?” I can’t really say that I’m shocked, because I kind of feel the same way; I don’t always feel that I need any educational degree to be successful. But if you don’t need a degree, then what do you need? Please, feel free to make comments under this post. I want to gain a greater understanding of what it is you feel you need to be successful.
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To be successful, you have to discover what you want out of life, decide how you are going to get what you want, and drive to get what you want.
Success is individually defined.
I believe most people never identify what it is they really want out of life because they miss out on the opportunity of self realization that school often provides to individuals.
So, do you believe that school provides a way to discover what it is you want out of life? It’s the best place to share ideas and learn from others, I’m sure you would agree with that. Therefore, you can gain a greater understanding of what it is you want out of life by attending school and obtaining a degree.
I suppose if you wanted to become a cowboy, you wouldn’t attempt obtaining a degree, but you do need to live on a ranch and learn from another cowboy. Right? So, if you plan on making it in a city, wouldn’t you then want to get a degree?
I think in our society, success is synonymous with wealth. Furthermore, the “norm” in society tells us that in order to be successful, one must get a college degree, and that for example a PhD will guarantee us a higher income as opposed to just obtaining a bachelor’s degree. But really, there are individuals who have the will, common sense, and perhaps some charisma who manage to succeed by not following this norm. Think about movie stars who are passionate about acting and forgo the traditional route of higher education in order to pursue their careers. I bet they would argue that they are succesful and as a society we would would likely agree. Also, think about the immigrant who defines success by being able to cross the border, get a decent job, bring his family over to the US, and live in America as opposed to the rancho in Mexico. Perhaps by our standards, the individual isn’t successful in the sense that he isn’t very wealthy, but again I believe that he would argue that he is indeed successful. Ultimately it is up to the individual to define his/her own success. I guess we need to learn how to do this instead of measuring our success by comparing ourselves to others or by measuring our success through society’s standards. I don’t know….I haven’t got it all figured out just yet. I’ll return with more to say later…..peace.
in regards to your response to josh…
by being in school I have managed to get an idea of what I DONT want to do, but not necessarily of that one thing that I am super passionate about..you know, that thing that if I succeed in obtaining I can say I am successful….but this just my experience, others have the opposite experience….
You Know… I totally understand what you’re saying.
I guess when I initially posed the question, I meant it for those of us who are already in school or have thought about it. Not the movie stars or singers, but the normal people; people who don’t really have that option. And I didn’t mean for it to be applied to other’s situations, but applied to one’s own life. I know that, for me, I love to do business, this is what I’m studying, but this wasn’t initially what I started studying. In life, I found that the only way people would give me a chance, in terms of business, was to either be established in my own business, or if I had a business degree, I could get a job in an area of business, which would allow me to eventually learn enough about business to create my own. So, for me, the key that would open the door of success was a business degree (bachelors degree).