

What is Success? - nickler
http://4mojo.wordpress.com/2013/10/15/wtf-is-success/

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rdtsc
Unfortunately according to my American friends' colloquial definition of
"success" it is simply $$$.

Yup money. "She became very successful" = "She made lots of money". Sometimes
I am a jackass and ask stupid questions, "well what if she is unhappy, is she
still successful?". And people look at me like I am from Mars ;-)

~~~
kabisote
Do you agree or disagree with them? Is "well what if she is unhappy, is she
still successful?" really a stupid question?

~~~
rdtsc
I just kind of struck me as strange. I grew up with it meaning something like
"lucky", "fortunate", could be things like kid is doing well in school, found
the person of their dreams to marry, it wasn't a direct euphemism for got a
pile of money. But now it kind of is.

Do I personally agree or disagree? Well don't certainly use the word that way,
and unless I am felling snarky I won't bother dissecting its meaning or
messing with it.

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Debugreality
What I found most interesting about this was the the concept of success
changed over time. Success seems to be deeply personal and is perhaps a
reflection of a deeply personal fear.

In our society the fear of not having enough money seems to be very prevalent
thus often success is tied directly to the concept of having enough money
because it is a fear a lot of people share.

In this light perhaps the path to success is just a way of working through our
fears.

The interesting question then becomes what does success look like to the
person who no longer has any fears. Perhaps then success is motivated by
compassion?

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wallflower
True wealth is confidence..

Quote from George Foreman about longshoremen:

Mr. Foreman, who stared down financial collapse as an adult despite a
troubled, impoverished childhood, said he knew real wealth when he saw it. “If
you’re confident, you’re wealthy,” he says. “I’ve seen guys who work on a ship
channel and they get to a certain point and they’re confident. You can look in
their faces, they’re longshoremen, and they have this confidence about
them...I’ve seen a lot of guys with millions and they don’t have any
confidence,” he says. “So they’re not wealthy.”

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NovemberWest
On skim, I do not see any hard definition of the "outstanding success" you
envisioned for Nickler. If you never defined it, you cannot achieve it or know
if you have. What gets measured gets done but, also, you need a measurable
goal to know when you are done.

So I think what you had in your van were easily achieved and easily measured
or recognized goals. Things get harder to see when the goal is larger and
seems nebulous. You need to make it tangible somehow.

Best of luck.

~~~
nickler
Well put. Over the last few months we've come to a conclusion that we'll
measure the product's success through the ability to earn a customer referral
(stolen from Ecquire's Paul DeJoe). Prviously, it's been 'get fucking
launched', and 'build a UI that doesn't make me want to punch my screen'.

Baby steps...

~~~
NovemberWest
Well, it does not sound like a very big picture goal, unless you are leaving
something out. Without a big picture goal, "outstanding" success seems very
unlikely.

Take care.

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yason
Success is not about finding what you think you want to have but realizing of
how much you already have.

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tomelders
I reckon it's probably happiness.

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marcosdumay
Thus, if it's happiness, success has no root at all in the objective reality,
but is completely subjective _... What is quite a hard thing to say, but
sounds completely logical.

_ And yeah, I'm removing the subject's brain from my definition of "objective
reality". If I don't do that, "subjective" would be meaningless.

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michaelochurch
_Tell me what an idiot I am on Hacker News_

You brag too much in that post and come off as somewhat douchey, but
reflective and intelligent. Also, you're one of the better writers that I've
read (and I've written professionally) and that's not an easy skill for most
to master, so kudos on that.

Also, it looks like Nickler is solving a real (and unsexy) problem. So,
respect.

~~~
nickler
Thank you, the douchey isn't intended, but it's helpful feedback on a writing
style I'm trying to pin down.

Thanks for the honesty and 'chin up', it's appreciated.

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011011100
Why can't it be subjective?

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exo_duz
It probably is for individuals. Some measure success with lots of money,
whilst others measure it with possessions (boats, cars, house etc).

For example as long as I can have support my wife and kids without them going
hungry I believe I'm successful in what I do.

