The True Road to Success

The Road to Success

"Aye, Captain, we be makin' a hard turn soon!"

The true path to success. There's really no need to get all philosophical about success. That sort of thing bores everyone to tears anyway. I do, however, have some thoughts on success, which simply reflect my own viewpoint and quite likely are nothing at all like yours.

Truth is, there are lots of ways to be successful. The question is, what kind of success do you want?

Compare the easy ways to be successful to difficult ways. The easy ways are less stressful, more enjoyable along the way, and infinitely less interesting and productive in the long run. But that doesn't make the latter necessarily better than the former for everyone - we must recall the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

Recently, I was listening to some Italian women discussing their culture on a radio station I listen to fairly regularly. One of them mentioned that, in Italy, the very epitome of success is to find a safe, secure government job and coast with it through life. Sort of like joining the Post Office or finding some nice bureaucratic government office job in the United States.

And there is nothing wrong with any of that! Safe, secure jobs are the perfect solution for many, many folks. From their position of financial security, they also can look down upon those who weren't as focused upon achieving their definition of success as them. Their disbelief that anyone would even consider another road to success than the one they pursued is palpable.

However, there are some for whom safety and security is not the top priority. Actor Jim Carrey has funny (what else with Jim Carrey?) anecdotes about his brief time at the Post Office. He quit because he claims he was a terrible mailman, which is quite possible. However, it is also likely that he left because he saw himself as a great ship. And, once again, we come to a famous old saying - ships are safest in port, but that is not why we build ships, to sit safely in port.

It is quite common for fellows to wonder why women often fall for or are attracted to that "loser," the "bad boy" who doesn't have a secure job or the safety of a pension (many women, of course, do like the fellows with the secure job and the fat pension, and many of us come from families like that). Of course, being shiftless and jobless doesn't mean you are anything special, either. It all depends on what you are trying to do with your life, what you are capable of, where your true talents lie.

It's not so difficult to fathom, really, for those who are clever. Being adventurous and taking huge gambles is inherently attractive. The folks who opt for the safe, secure, easy route often aren't the most clever ones, though. And that's not a put-down, it's a simple statement of fact with which you are free to disagree.

It is a lot more dangerous and risky to choose the road that foregoes the safe job that will see you to your deathbed without any danger of ever being unable to pay the bills or provide for your family. However, some folks just feel that they have more to offer, that life has more to offer, and that they must try something different.

Believe it or not, the ones who try to achieve something unique and wonderful, succeed or fail, are the true winners in life.

2019