Do We Often Define Success In A Dollar Figure?

‘Show me the money!’ How can we forget this scene out of Jerry Maguire. This is something that my father always quotes to his employees in his financial franchise business. He also goes to point out, ‘Try to get credit at any bank if your company does not make a decent profit. All the big CEO’s are measured by the success of their companies’ bottom line. That’s the truth.’

With big names like Donald Trump, Bill Gates and even Mark Zuckerberg – the Facebook giant, of course we are lead to believe by the media that the biggest success figures will have all of the power, authority and life’s luxuries as well.

We also look at dollar figures as incentives, almost like a reward for hard work and effort that we put into our current roles, especially the longer we work within an organisation. Most employers I tend to find will be happy to reward an employee accordingly for their efforts, it is only when however, an employees expects more money for less – and that can have multiple definitions/reasons, but you know what I mean.

Remember, all CEO’s or management within any organisation have worked their way up from lower level positions and have had to prove themselves, so the same applies for any employees within the industry as well. So more often or not, management will be able to empathise with you as an employee and understand your goals and needs if this is communicated effectively.

Money also benefits those material possessions that we often crave – the house, the car, clothing, valuables and incentives such as travel and holidays. But then of course there is also financial security for those ongoing repayments such as a mortgage to pay off, educational expenses, child expenses and so forth.

On another note, success and money can tie in with fame and recognition. Bruno Mars released a song, ‘I want to be a billionaire‘ making reference to meeting many of the world’s richest people, seeing his name in ‘shining lights’, and also making reference to providing opportunities and help to those who are less fortunate. And of course reality television, as we all love it, with shows such as Masterchef and The Voice, we love seeing the ‘average joe’ so to speak, work their way up to achieve their life long dream and also become a famous television celebrity.

So why would this be any different in the corporate world? As 80% of our working week is in the office or travelling for work, of course we would try very hard to make a name for ourselves, and with more money it will often result in more responsibility.

But is money the only thing that defines success?

A website that I reviewed called www.mywaytosuccess.com outlined that money is only a part of what makes you successful, and listed some very valid points that I have summarised below:

• Success should be determined by how you feel in your life – look at how you think your life is going overall – Are you happy?
• Measure your success by the amount of goals that you wish to achieve throughout your life
• Success can be measured by the quality of your friendships and how close you are with your family – do you have a good support system?
• Do you look in the mirror at the end of the day knowing that you have done something good for someone else, treated someone with respect, or overall feel good about how your day has gone?
• Is what you are doing on a daily basis making you feel good and do you feel good about whom you have become over the years?

Overall, this website outlines that the decisions you are making in life should be for your best interest. Of course it is great not to have financial issues, but if this is all that you care about, unfortunately the result will be  that money may be the only thing that will keep you company.

Now success can have different meanings to us all, but the point of my initial poll was to see whether or not you associated this with money or how much money you make. This was your vote:

• Yes: 89%
• No: 11%

Now there is no right or wrong answer in terms of what you consider to be success, however what I am more trying to get you to think about is how important do you consider money in terms of your drive for success?

While money will bring many incentives in our material world, if you are not happy with your job or you have sacrificed many of the important things in life for money/title, then maybe reconsider if this is personal success. If not, who or what are you doing this for?

While we have time on this earth, wouldn’t you rather want to look back on your life satisfied instead of worrying about what you haven’t done or achieved?

Haven’t had your say? I would love to hear your feedback below, or please check out my latest poll: Is Quarterlife Crisis a myth or reality for today’s generation? And again, thank you again for taking the time out to read our weekly articles.