19 Inches Diagonal

Successful - A word every human wants should be attached to his name. Without doubt it is important to be a Successful Individual. That is not what I intend to highlight in this discussion. The question that I ask is, "How much successful should one be?" You - The Reader might say, "as much as one possibly can be in his/her lifetime." Alright, if we agree on this then we should also agree on the fact that everything in this world comes at a cost. So, what is the cost of success? If you can answer this then I am sure this discussion is not for you but if there is any doubt or if the question makes you think even for a moment then you and I can carry forward this discussion. All the articles on this blog are a discussion between the reader and me. You are invited to write your point of view in the comments if you are motivated for a discussion. It would be my pleasure to reply to your comments (if need be).

The cost of success is undefined till one actually succeeds or fails in his pursuits. Questionable? Do you really feel that one can do a quantitative estimation of finding a cost of his/her pursuits before s/he starts or better to say before s/he finishes. Try it. Why do I say succeed or fail? Because neither success nor failure is in ones hands. So, depending on the outcome of ones pursuits can one figure out whether s/he succeeded or failed. The success that I want to highlight in this article is purely materialistic one. I would not talk about failure as that is something not many if not any would like him/herself to be associated with.

Coming back to the question, How much successful should one be? Before I express my point of view I would like to highlight what I mean by materialistic success. For someone - a new property, a new degree in education, promotion in office, a new venture in business, a new ornament purchased, a child born, a new toy given to a child, increase in the bank balance, an expensive mobile phone, a new car, a beautiful wife or a girl friend, a new friend, a new award, etc. etc. etc. Materialistic success is different for every individual. Now let me answer my question. In my opinion (and this is purely my opinion - the reader is free to challenge it by expressing his/her own) how much successful an individual should be depends upon how much success one can handle thereby keeping oneself and all those who are closely connected to him/her happy. Simple - Jobs done, discussion over. If only it was that easy. What do I mean by this opinion of mine? As we discussed earlier that success comes at a cost. We need to understand what are we paying to become successful? It should not be the case that we actually lose more than what we are able to gain. One tends to forget, in fact one knows about it but s/he ignores a fact that on the road to fulfillment of ones pursuits there are many other areas that are being neglected. The stronger the effort for achievement of pursuits the weaker certain other aspects of life become which at that point in time seem less important (only if they are less important). There is always a possibility that one gets so engrossed in his/her pursuits that s/he reaches a point of no return in other areas of life.

I would like to quote an example here. A successful businessman who wants to further grow his business so that he can earn more money starts a new venture. To work on the new venture he needs time and money as investments. Majorly people consider money as the only investment but they forget about time and thereby the Value of Time (VOT). Those who forget about time are the ones who end up losing more than what they seem to have gained. In order to make a new venture a success the businessman has to work hard and make sacrifices in other aspects of life. He cannot give same time to his family and friends and therefore his personal life is sacrificed for the sake of success of his new venture. He might even have to take time out of his exercises/sports. This will compromise his health. At the end of it the businessman might surely make a lot of money through this new venture but is at risk of losing on his family, friends or health (and there are more aspects that can be damaged). What would you term a situation in which one earns a lot, makes his business ventures highly profitable but has a son/daughter who does not listen to him, has no friends to talk to - all are materialistically attached to him or has a wife who is depressed in life? Do you call this being Successful? I agree that such a situation might not always arise and there are people who can handle all aspects of life beautifully. I am not accusing people here I am just making my point clear - Till the time you and all those who are connected closely to you are happy and have a genuine smile on their face YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL. The day you realize that your materialistic pursuits are taking away your or your loved ones happiness, I feel its time for you to rethink majorly. Because then you are going down and not up and you always climb the ladder of life upside and not downside.

That's it, it was that simple. Simple topic, simple discussion. To end this discussion I ask you - the reader a very simple question. It is my request to you to take out some more time of yours and reply to this question in the comments below. (This question was asked to me by my friend and colleague at Jaypee Group, Shri. Avtar Singh Saini Ji). He asks, "If one earns in 5 years what he is supposed to earn in his lifetime should he stop earning and start enjoying the money or should he keep on going for more earnings?" (The criteria to define the amount to be earned in someones lifetime is by increasing the current day earnings by 15-20% every year and one can safely assume ones working lifetime to be 40 years). What would you - the reader do in such a situation?

I will wait for a reader.

(19 Inches Diagonal is the size of the monitor that one sits in front of for a major part of the day, doing something or nothing. It was highlighted by a friend and colleague at Jaypee Group, Shri. Tarun Gaur Ji in reference to another colleague who just sits in front of the monitor throughout the day and has no recreational activity at all. Just the 19" monitor and himself - There are so many people like him today)