"Success" — Society's Biggest Scam
Why you shouldn't care about success & successful people
I bet if you ask a random person on the street if they wanted to be successful, they'll say "Duh! Who doesn't?"
I have been obsessed with being successful, so much so that I would affirm I am successful 100 times a day. I would recite the name of the top founders and their business models.
I heard every episode of How I Built This by Guy Raz. I read PG's essays from his early YC days. I remember most of the commencement speeches of Steve Jobs, & Elon Musk, and Sara Blakely by heart. I even read the books they suggested and wrote about them.
As a 24-year-old young adult brimming with confidence I can't blame myself for trying to become super successful and riding through the entrepreneurial spirit.
At 28, I may not have a business or a million dollars in my bank, but I have experiences that showed me a different picture of success.
With my clear and obscene understanding, I have become calmer and much more content with my life. This made me not fret about success or successful people because of the following observations.
Success is a Ponzi Scheme
Have you ever thought about why success sells?
If you look closely, you will notice how the world revolves around success.
If there's no success in the world, what will they write self-help books about? Who will innocent people worship as pseudo gods?
No success means no selling dreams. No selling dreams means no money. No money means no big corporations.
- Buy courses = To be successful
- Do masters = To be successful
- Start a business = To be successful
- Go abroad = To be successful
- Read Self-help = To be successful
What dreams will they use to make you spend your hard-earned money? Where will they find illusioned dreamers to buy their course?
I wonder what our ads would look like if there was no success.
Dreams about success makes the most successful campaigns.
Success dreams sell more than any other in our society. Unfortunately, the dream to see your child with a degree and become a success is why the US education system is broken, and there is $1.58 trillion of outstanding student loan debt.
Giving people the false hope that success will solve all their problems is how capitalism works.
Society Has Defined Success For Us
For society, success is the same old testament that makes a person with wealth and influences successful irrespective of how they acquired it.
Prestigious college degrees, expensive cars, VC money, and front-page covers — it is hugely giving back to capitalism and helping run the wheel of the market.
Degrees create debt, expensive cars create debt, and they entice more people to buy that brand. People who buy big households support real estate more than they support their families. It's all a part of the bigger picture.
What we earn & SPEND is more important for society than HOW we make it or WHO we are.
Nobody cares about the kid working extra hours after school to support his family.
Nobody cares about the small business that's taking care of the underprivileged.
Nobody cares about the teacher who lives a modest life and delivers the best education to his students.
Society only cares about if you look good and are contributing to the bigger wheel by doing what they like to promote or hook people with.
Success for the world is not a success for you.
What You See Is Not The Truth
I have seen how my friends with no safety net have taken huge debts to move to another county. With 200K in student debt and no guaranteed job, they are called successful because they got their DP in front of the Eiffel Tower or Empire State Building.
The facade to look like success makes people risk their future and leave everything behind, including their families, to chase the American dream.
It's not just higher education; it's seeking funding to start a business to become the next Zuckerberg or Musk. With the pressure to be on Forbes 30 under 30 and become a hot topic, people talk on Linkedin.
But does that make someone successful?
We fail to see past the material possessions
Material success doesn't tell us anything about the person, their character — it's just the status that attracts us.
The infamous case of Business tycoon Raj Kundra sheds light on this very topic. A person who was a role model for aspiring entrepreneurs, for having multiple businesses, had a beautiful Bollywood actress as a wife and had a loving family was involved in creating pornographic films and publishing them online.
Why go to Bollywood? A couple of people in my extended family who're the leaders in our community have been caught in cases like money laundering and bribing, yet they're still respected and considered successful for the luxury cars they drive and have millions in their banks.
People don't care about you being a felon or a horrible person.
They get dopamine to know someone who has money and power that can use it for their modus operandi.
It's the most prominent form of validation from the masses. Your character, virtues, and ethics don't matter if you have money and fame.
"I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer."
Jim Carrey was right. Being rich and famous is not the answer if you're bankrupt inside.
I am not against success. How could I be when I was obsessed about it, but that obsession led me to look at things from a different perspective.
Gary Vee's words on "How you make money is as imp as how much you make." have stayed with me more than his content creation rant.
Today I find success in taking care of my family, and I find success in being the independent woman I am with no support from my father or anyone else. I may not be the success we read about on the internet, but I am successful in my way.
Success is personal.
It's emotional and can be found in the little things we do every day.
What is success for you?
Use this link to get full access to Medium and read gazillion exciting articles. You can stay in touch with me by joining my free email list.
Further read
