Stop Trying to Be Successful

Thoughts (and quotes) on happiness, realizing goals, and what defines “success.”

I’ve written about success in various ways recently (see this and this), and each time I think to myself, “Self, what is success anyway? What does ‘being successful’ mean? After all, isn’t it all subjective?” So, since I enjoy pontificating on these things — and also enjoy writing myself into corners to force constructive contemplation (resulting in admirable alliteration) — I set out to organize my thoughts on the subject, and hopefully justify my writing about it at all.

I sought the help of people I deem objectively “successful” through their thoughts on, well… success, and drew inspiration from books and writings. I also thought back to communication I’ve had with students or young people, because they all tend to ask in one way or another, “How do you become successful?” While I will lay out what I believe constitutes success in this article, my answer to them will simply be, “Stop trying.”

First, let’s try to define success.

“Success in life could be defined as the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals.”
— Deepak Chopra