Blog Post 1 - This is Success.

Success, nowadays, is an incredibly ambiguous term. Everything from money to education to religion to even fame is being touted as the latest road to success. We are daily inundated with advertisements telling us what we should look like, parents telling us who they think we should grow up to be, and friends telling us what we should do. Our own perceptions of ourselves and our successes are continuously being shaped by family, friends, media outlets, and even perfect strangers. For me, success is being and/or doing better than I was yesterday. It means never remaining static, never growing complacent with ourselves; it implies a constant need for improvement. As Winston Churchill once aptly declared, “Success is not final, failure is not final: it is the courage to continue that counts.” 

Success in a professional life is dependent on a willingness to try new things. It implies an eagerness to confront the unknown and not shy away from the unexpected. When my dad was asked to become the Safety Coordinator at his workplace – in addition to all of his other managerial duties – he did so knowing that, while it was a good opportunity, it also came with a lot of risks and liabilities. This is a quality that most employers – and people in general, by extension – both appreciate and respect. Indeed, the ability to look at a daunting, new project without fear is a quality that most innovators and earth-shakers possess. One doesn’t need to become a doctor, lawyer, or CEO to become successful – they just need to be willing to step outside their comfort zones.

While an eagerness to try new things is crucial trait for success, a willingness to perform menial tasks is an almost equal measure for success. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither does someone fresh into the job market immediately get to the top. I experienced this last year when I was interning at a law firm in San Francisco. When I first started at the firm, I had high hopes of getting to see what the lawyers did up close. The reality was that I barely got to speak to them and spent a lot of time fetching coffee and cleaning desks. As they began to trust me, however, I was allowed to do more actual case-work. Although I first had to do menial tasks, I was able to work myself up to a better position.

Finally, the most important tenet of success is an unwillingness to give up because of a belief that what you are doing matters.  This is historically why philanthropists, social workers, nurses, and so many other professions have such a high job satisfaction rate; it is because they know they are making a positive change in the world. As Henry Ford, a great American industrialist, once remarked, “But to do more for the world than the world does for you – that is Success.” Success in the work place is not defined by income, status, respectability, or even promotions. Because all of these outward signs of success can be quickly stripped away during a bad economic recession, the only way to become truly successful is by leaving this world better than you found it.