Success is what dreams are made of. Success is about making it in life. Fast cars, expensive penthouses, designer labels—in other words, high material viability is the new success mantra. Yet we see large hordes of people demanding to do more than that by trying to find a common denominator for success. No longer weighed in terms of tidy bank balances, success is now regarded as all-inclusive quotient of material, emotional and spiritual gratification. Belying Alvin Toffler's apocalyptic cry against capitalism and urbanization, success does not remain merely a socially abrasive economic phenomenon in a highly competitive world. Today success represents a holistic and positive attitude to life.
Attitude is everything. If you think you can, you most certainly can. Success is not closeted within some kind of brick and mortar premises. It assumes the individuality of a complete act executed with perfection. Material achievements do not define life. We do not remember the sports stars for the products they endorse but the spirit of achievement they represent. In the abundance of positive attitude underlies the grandeur of a truly rewarding and rich life.
Ancient Indian wisdom believes that the most qualifying aspect of success lies in following the four Purusharthas( tenets) of life. The Purusharthas are based on the four tenets of artha (wealth,social security), kama (fulfillment of desire), dharma( principles)and moksha (salvation). Wealth or artha means earthly possessions and material gains. People usually work hard to procure such standards of success, and yet, find themselves wanting more. Desires condemned by puritans the world over, is motivating force behind all action that manifests as success. High moral credo or dharma is a life based on principles. However the crowning glory to successful life is moksha or freedom from all desires. Artha, kama, dharma and moksha patterns a rite of passage for an adult life. According to Indian thought, success depends upon the smooth transition of an individual through each of these passages.
However, the culture factor definitely influences the success expectation among a people.
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SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT:
Kautilya, a 4th century BC statesman from Northern India, defined success as an autocratic skill par excellence in his economic masterpiece—Arthashastra. Instrumental in dislodging the Nand dynasty from the capital city of Pataliputra and establishing the Mauryan dynasty over India, Kautilya also known as Chanakya remains ancient India's best success story. His laws on government have been emulated through out the annals of Indian politics.
Kautuilya stands for the ultimate in shrewd statesmanship. According to his treatise on statecraft, it would make better sense for you to reach your goal by using subversive methods when you're up against a strong adversary. All out war is a good option only when the opponent is weak. Perhaps another mind, which comes closest to such shrewd statesmanship, belongs to Niccolo Machiavelli.
Associated with corrupt ,totalitarian government the political genius of Machiavelli was overshadowed by the reputation that was unfairly given to him because of a misunderstanding of his views on politics. Nonetheless he is revered as a political cult figure espousing the most radical means to retain or procure power. The fact remains that the Machiavellian Head wears the success hat in this world today.
Sometime during the 1950's, Abraham Maslow attempted to synthesize a large body of research related to human motivation. Maslow posited a hierarchy of human needs based on two groupings: deficiency needs and growth needs. According to his theory, if and only if the deficiency needs are met, is the individual ready to act upon the growth needs. When the growth needs are realized in an individual, he becomes self-actualized. Maslow evaluated (1954) this self-actualization as success. His basic position is that—as one becomes more self-actualized and transcendent, one becomes wiser (develops wisdom) and automatically knows what to do in a wide variety of situations.
Alvin Toffler, one of the world's most well known futurists, published his Future Shock in 1970 which sold more than a million copies. Painting a dismal picture about the fast changing world he made people, institutions, governments, schools reckon change and deal positively with it. When the world was reeling under the pressure of Vietnam war,flower power and mercurial economy,Toffler compelled people to review stability and its role in the development of culture,society and civilization. He taught us to deal with success and its changing parameters and braced us for the coming world. Another major figure worth taking a look at while talking about success, happens to be Edward de Bono.
Edward de Bono is regarded by many as the leading authority in the field of creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. He has written 62 books with translations into 37 languages. He is the originator of lateral thinking, which treats creativity as the behavior of information in a self-organizing information system—such as the neural networks in the brain. From such a consideration arise the deliberate and formal tools of lateral thinking and parallel thinking, which, if put to use in the pursuit of success—it might lead to better results.
For many successful people, the journey begins as a search for the self-image or self-creation. As New Age guru Deepak Chopra puts it in his best selling Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, each of us is here to discover our higher or spiritual self. He believes that focused and responsible effort, and a consistently positive outlook constitutes success. Together, they form the key to abundance—not merely in terms of material wealth but also in the form of opportunities that can become steppingstones to a completely successful life. Says Chopra: "All problems contain the seeds of opportunity, and this awareness allows you to take the moment and transform it to a better situation."
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