Success is what the average twenty year old strives for. But what is success? How can we contain success and with confidence proclaim that I am successful? Inasmuch they say that each person has his own idea of success, it has to somehow have a general meaning. Success, like the water we drink or the air we breath, must be able to be a shared experience or feeling.
When we encounter a young man or woman who smells of expensive perfume driving a luxurious German car, we automatically think of that person to be successful. In a way, that is the shared view of success. The expensive smelling woman who turns the heads of men is seen to be a powerful and successful woman. Inasmuch, the expensive smelling man who is able to lure women is seen to be a powerful and successful man. Like a sixth sense, we can feel when someone is a success. It is something that is totally inescapable. It is a feature that those with success, and only them, have.
But that brings a twist to the tale. A retired teacher who used his pension fund to purchase that Mercedes Benz, is he successful? Given the fact that the money he used to purchase the Merc took a huge chunk of his pension money. Shortly he will be looking at that token of his success with scorn when he begins falling behind on instalments to maintain it. At this point in time, the teacher will exit retirement and go back into the workforce in order for him for to keep up with the “success” he had finally achieved. Is this a case of success? Is success than a trap of ego and pride? Because once one is successful, I do not believe they will want to go back. If one has tasted the premium cut beef only found at high class restaurants, that person I honestly believe will not want to go back to the B-grade meat cuts at the shisanyama joint he used to go to. We see this in some celebrities. The moment their careers began to take a turn for the worst, they tumble down a spiral hole of addiction and despair. Thus one asks himself, is success truly worth it?
To the person who has lived in poverty all his life, that trap of success is totally worth it; “Rather too much money problems than no money problems”. To this person, he would rather have to worry about whether will he be able to pay off the DSTV Compact subscription fee than rather have to worry about when will he get is next proper meal. The truth is, no one wants an empty pocket. As a young male, you do not want to take your girl out to KFC for Krushers. In your heart you want to take her out to Steers and get the premium burgers. You do not want to be the guy who pulls a Mobicell while she is carrying a Samsung S8. Even though her words of “It doesn’t matter” escape her mouth when you pull your less than a thousand rand phone, you know in your heart is does matter. This most often or not, will motivate any man to climb the ladder of success to see the other side. We climb the ladder with the full view of the palace and it is totally oblivious to us that to maintain the palace is just as hard as to get into it.
Success to me is like a fantasy in which you hoping one day will be reality. A drug to tease you with a momentary rush only to end soon. To me I see success as a complex mathematical answer produced by a simple equation. This equation is work hard and surely you will succeed. Those that spend more time perfecting their craft will become better than the rest and thus surpass them than therefore ultimately succeeding. It is that simple. The complexity derives from the fact that working hard isn’t all there is to it. You may be the one working hard in the workplace, yet that one guy who is late almost every Monday will be promoted to the position you were working hard for. You may be the guy giving your all at the gym yet the guy who eats all the junk in the world still manages to defeat everyone including you on the track. Success than becomes this highly complex reality that entices the desires of many but crushes the spirits of others. Inasmuch success is a trap of better life problems, it is also a mystical reality that alludes many.
But why is that the case? Why is success this powerful force of the universe that drives men and women to the brink of self destruction? We know the stories of the “I never sleep”, “I eat, drink and live my passion” “I’d die for this” and so forth yet when the equation implemented by the somewhat average guy living down the street, he never finds that success. We grew in an era where many of our friends wanted to be musicians, mostly rappers. I personally know guys who woke up, bathed, ate and slept in studios making songs after songs for many years yet they remain unknown by the music industry. How is that some people seem to have the magical touch when others don’t? I come across people and they tell me I have a touch of greatness, when in my heart, for the longest time, has been drenched in sadness. Is it unfair that I, who cannot see beyond the clouds of misery, am destined to succeed as opposed to the one who desperately works day and night to succeed? Exactly what is success? This trap I speak for is seen mostly in our black middle class workers. They maintain the image of living in previously white only neighbourhood, buy one or two semi luxurious cars and buy quality products with that DSTV dish hanging on the side of their houses. Yes, these black folk have indeed made it given the fact where they come from. Yet, a closer look only reveals that these families are so deep in debt, even the clothes they wearing they do not own. Is this truly what success is? The escape to a harsher reality covered with glitz and glamour that eventually will haunt us?
Fact is, one cannot really define success. I too want to be the millionaire who can travel the world and buy my child a car when he goes to university. Yes, success is a matter of perspective. Yes, success isn’t really about the money but more about the lifestyle. I’d believe a great teacher desires not to own a prime real estate that costs millions but rather to harness the power to influence millions. Only to find that people are difficult by nature, the millions you want to influence end up influencing the powers at be to take you to the cross. One would say that success is not the land of milk and honey, but rather the land of milk and honey; with the giants in the land.