As I am updating our personal portfolio and working on the work portfolio I manage, I wondered, “Is Money the Only Measure of Success?” Look, I understand we all espouse a variety of success measures. These are a few success traits I value:
How to be a Success
- Contributing member of society
- Good parent, neighbor, and friend
- Philanthropist
- Community volunteer
- Faithful employee
- Accomplished athlete
Do you think those who earn more are more successful?
At Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance I promote self reflection and living in accord with one’s personal values. For example, which is more important; planning a fun day with your family at a local park or event or spending that day working to earn extra income? There’s no correct answer. This is a decision I struggle with all of the time.
I love to work and I value earning extra money. Yet, spending time with my family is the most important activity for me. But I must confess that sometimes my actions don’t exemplify my purported values.
Time is Finite
There is one certainty, time is finite. Once it’s gone, there is no more. Couple that with the fact that no one knows how long they will live, and these realities underscore the importance of spending one’s moments fruitfully.
I don’t have the answer to whether money is the only measure of success nor what is the best use of one’s time.
I resolve it by attempting to balance work, leisure, time with family, and time on hobbies.
I’m certain that this balancing act confronts most adults. In fact, just a few minutes ago I found an email in my inbox from Darren Rowse of Problogger fame offering a new book with the title Blog Wise: How to do More with Less. Although tempted to purchase, I realized there really is no secret message for productivity and success.
Yet, returning to the start of this post, while updating our portfolios I began to mentally project some of our annual income; I have a new teaching contract coming up at a local university, El Carino started his new job, and I expect to make some money blogging. How much is enough? Is the marginal time spent earning a buck more important than a precious afternoon with my family? Personally, after a certain level of income is reached, the answer is; the best use of my time is to spend the time with my family!
Multiple Measures of Success
Yet the pursuit of an answer to, “How do you measure success?” continues to interest me. The research intertwines the importance of finding one’s purpose in life, having control, and making a contribution with feelings of personal success. In reality, these fundamental human desires may or may not result in financial wealth. Think about the single mom social worker with a few kids. It’s unlikely she’s swimming in extra cash, but she is definitely making a contribution to the betterment of society. If she helps place a child in a good home, she’s a true success. The community volunteer is working for the betterment of society, without remuneration. The mom who coaches the kids soccer team and the dad who helps with homework each night are successful within the family and helping the greater good as well.
In a broader sense, every job makes a contribution. And doing one’s job enthusiastically and competently can make you a success in any area. Society needs successful trash collectors, school teachers, accountants, and plumbers. When a pipe bursts, you value and appreciate a plumber more than a highly paid company president or wealthy movie actor.
More Readings on Success
- In Cooking to Financial Success, Andi of Modern Tightwad talks about success in her guest post at Prarie Eco Thrifter
- The Canadian Financial Blog reiterates that Financial Success Comes from Working Harder
- The Clutter that Kills Your Success in Business and in Life from The Smashing Entrepreneur
- Financial Success for Young Adults is all about helping the younger set prevail
Barb across the Blogosphere
Totally Money Carnival at Control Your Cash
Carnival of Financial Camaraderie at My University Money
How do you measure success? Do you value money over other factors?
image credit; google images; luisgalarza.blogspot.com
Barbara,
Money is far from the only measure of success and it’s the wrong question for most people but they can’t break out of the influence of media, society, friends and family.
The values that you put up are still ones imposed by society as well. It’s more important to define success for yourself.
The definition of success will also change with time and you need to flexible to accept it.
Kim @moneyandrisk recently posted..How To Protect Your Privacy on LinkedIn
For me, success is having enough money (and using it wisely enough) to allow MORE time with loved ones.
My job (freelance writer) is portable, so I’m able to visit family/friends whenever I want — as long as I get my work done, and as long as I have enough money to buy plane tickets without worrying about the bottom line. That’s where the “wise use” comes in.
The bottom line also includes saving for retirement and having a decent emergency fund. Again, being careful with my money lets me do both while still going to see my dad (I’d rather go for a visit than a funeral, if you know what I mean), hanging out with my daughter (who lives a bunch of states away now instead of in the same apartment building) or spoiling my great-nephews (aka surrogate grandkids).
Still haven’t quite figured out the work-life balance, but I value the struggle.
Donna Freedman recently posted..I’ve got a new day job. Come over and visit.
I would call Gandhi pretty successful though he himself had little wealth!
MoneyCone recently posted..Why I Chose A 30-Year Mortgage Even Though I Could Afford To Pay It Off In 15 Years
@Kim, Thank you for bringing in the influences of the omnipresent media. It’s sometimes quite a challenge to rely on one’s own true beliefs while living within this consumerist society!
@Donna, Your point about valuing the struggle really struck a chord. The journey of life is so much richer than arriving at the destination. You clearly laid out an ideal response to the “success and money” conundrum.
@moneycone-I strive to be more like Ghandi, but, I think I’d have to be reborn to even come close.
Success is the attainment of a goal. It may be different for a parent, clergy or accountant. Two out of three has nothing to do with money. What is enough money is very subjective and difficult to answer because it is individual.
krantcents recently posted..Given a Choice, What Will You Do?
Money plays a partial part of success and that greatly depends on how you can get it.
There was a guy here in my home state of Michigan that won over 2 million dollars in the lottery. He was featured on that TLC “lottery changed my life” show. I hate to be mean, but this guy was about as dumb as they come. Well to find out, he blew all his money on fireworks, bad investments and is now in jail because of drugs.
I think everyone has their own view of success. To me, it’s someone that contributes to society, doesn’t leech on the government, has great morals and donates from time to time.
I think that our culture predominantly values money as a sign of success…and it is hard to walk away from this measurement. I struggle with it myself!
Amanda L Grossman recently posted..True Acceptance of Your Circumstances and Your Finances
@Krantc-I like your example of how various types of folks will likely view success.
@Hannah-There’s data that explains that many lottery winners end up bankrupt. I am chuckling at your depiction of the winner. In his case, money certainly didn’t make the lottery winner a success.
@Amanda, It’s tough to swim against the tide!
Along the Gandhi line there are other very successful folks who not only had no money of their own, but recommended you get rid of yours as well. Jesus Christ and Buddha come immediately to mind.
We are living on an income of $2000/mo (voluntarily) in our dream country. We may not be money rich, but we are happiness rich. Would that qualify as success? I’m not sure, but if not then I’ll settle for happiness over success.
Money Infant recently posted..Why I Don’t Want 1 Million Dollars
This is very helpful and I want to make sure my friends will be aware with this too…
Preciouss recently posted..Waterfront Key Singapore
One of the hardest things about projects, missions, initiatives and activities is setting the definition of success. How do we know when we’ve been successful? Setting boundaries and conditions prevents mission creep.
101 Centavos recently posted..Take It Easy, Just Go For a Walk
@Money Infant-Sounds like an exciting and stimulating lifestyle. I vote with success!
@101- That is such a smart question. You really must define success for oneself, or you’ll always flounder.
Barbara Friedberg recently posted..IS MONEY THE ONLY MEASURE OF SUCCESS?
Do I think money is the only true measure of success? Absolutely not. It is one measure of success, but not the only one.
If people earn a lot of money, but they treat others badly or they don’t have any positive relationships or they aren’t feeling a sense of satisfaction with their work, then I don’t think those people are truly successful.
To take it to the extreme, look at some of today’s superstars. They make tons of money, but their lives are an absolute mess. They can’t maintain stable relationships, they have a totally inflated sense of themselves, and they often turn to drugs or alcohol to cope. I don’t consider these people very successful because their lives are falling apart.
I think having a great deal of money is wonderful because it allows someone to have the freedom to do what is important to them without worrying about how to pay the bills. When people do what is important to them and they derive a sense of satisfaction from it, then I think they are a success.
RevDella recently posted..Conquer your afternoon stress related eating
@RevDella-Bringing the examples of the stars is a perfect example of having money and lacking the basic life and success skills. In spite of all of the media attention, it’s so important to remain grounded in your own version of success. Sounds like you do that well.
I’m sure you have heard of Abraham Maslov’s hierarchy of needs. You are talking about the highest level in his hierarchy – self actualization. He thought that before you could get to that 5th level to satisfy the need to be successful, you had to move through the other four: Physiological, security, social and esteem.
I think our definition of success changes as we move through these levels.
Marie at FamilyMoneyValues recently posted..Benefits of Networking
This is a timely post as I am struggling with this conflict myself. More work means more money and more financial security, but that is also less time I can spend with my kids while they are little. . .
Melissa@PersonalFinanceJourney recently posted..Where Lower Income Tax Filers Can Get Free Tax Help
I think I feel successful because of my failures. I know it may sound odd, but if I hadn’t been such an idiot both personally and financially in my early years I don’t know if I would truly appreciate the life that I have today. I measure my success in time I get to spend with my husband, forward progress on the goals we share, puppy tail wags and kitten cuddles. It’s a rough life but someone has to do it!
Barbara,
You may want to add one more to your list — building genuine relationships.
After reading your article on Yakezie few weeks ago, I was inspired to write about my scorecard of success and failure.
By far, building great friendship and lasting relations have contributed significantly to success in my life.
Thank you for the inspiration!
Shilpan
@Marie-Wow, what a literate answer… haven’t thought much about Maslow since my Masters degree studies last century. Thanks for adding a totally new spin to the discussion.
@Melissa, I wish it could say the discussion gets easier. My kid is grown and I’m still struggling with the same questions. I don’t regret taking time off when I was younger to be almost a full time mom! I think life experience is in the struggle.
@Andi, I totally get it. And…. I love my kittens, there’s nothing like being a “successful mom” to my kittens to make me happy
@Shilpan-You made my day… I feel honored to have inspired you. In the end, you have nothing if not relationships. You can’t call a dollar bill up to chat!
For most people in our modern-capitalism world, money is the first thing, and sometimes the only thing that measures success in their life. Money can buy power. Money can buy fame. Money can make the world go round. But money cant buy everything.
@Rick-Agreed. It is so important to look outside oneself. Almost everyone in this country lives better than those in less developed countries. We can all be successful in “making a difference.”
Being successful is not about money. For me, when I reach my goal or when I accomplish my purpose, then I can consider myself successful.
@Patrica and Ann-It’s so important to quantify what you value and use that as your own personal metric. Money in and of itself is only useful as a currency, not an absolute.
I think sometimes we get caught up on our own measure of success at the expense of the greater good. I find the more I do to progress/improve those around me the greater my feeling of success. Somehow that seems to translate in any measurable term to what might be defined as my success also. A happy byproduct
@Vincent, I’m so glad you brought this up. Service to others is beneficial for those we serve and even more so for ourselves. I have a trick that whenever I’m feeling down or sorry for myself, I try to reach out and do something for someone else. I really appreciate the comment.
I think success is determined by how one is able to balance between what they want and what they should give.
Spending time with your children instead of making more money is a good thing. Deep inside our hearts we always know what others require of us.
We know when to be of service to others but sometimes we just choose to ignore them because we have to spend more time working on our goals – goals that can generate more cash.
So everybody makes their choice, and yes we don’t have to judge them before we judge ourselves.
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@Philos, You encapsulated 2 really important point, how you spend your time demonstrates what you value as well as the balance between giving and taking. I especially appreciate your your reminder not to judge others. That one cannot be emphasized enough!!! Thank you so much for your contribution.
You are welcome.
Philos Mudis recently posted..How to promote your free ebook , get more people to read it and drive traffic back to your blog or website using the same book