For the sake of this column, we’ll call him Robert. Like many of us on this island, Robert spent much of his life dreaming of achieving success and wealth. From early childhood, he held the firm belief that if he could rise to a level which brought about a fancy title and a fat salary, he would have the economic independence, power and influence that he craved for. “From a young age,” he said to me, “I had decided that this is what I wanted. I didn’t want to be like my father who spent a lifetime worrying about money and struggling to make ends meet.” Driven by this urge, Robert spent a lifetime circling around success and wealth, striving, struggling, doing his utmost to acquire and accumulate both. Today, he is indeed one of the lucky few who have made it and occupies one of the top jobs on this island.

I worry, perhaps wrongly, whenever I come across people like Robert. Whether we believe we are as successful as he is or, on the contrary, total failures at our job, the dangers we run are huge – and best outlined as follows.

The first danger is our work losing its true meaning and worth. We wake up one day realizing that we are no longer working because we are enjoying the job itself and are passionate about it – but because of its advantages: the fat salary, the fancy car or the power that the position gives us.

The second danger is that fear reigns supreme in our lives. Either we believe that we should have more success and rise even higher, or else we are concerned that what we have achieved might one day disappear altogether. Either way, fear has now become our constant companion and conflict between who we are and what we have, as compared to what we should be or should have, our daily bread.

The third danger is that of losing our values altogether. How many times have we come across these managers who, because of their desire for promotion or acceptance by their superiors or colleagues, have spent a lifetime modifying themselves in order to fit a particular mould? In the end, they are no longer recognizable. Those values that you appreciated in them many years ago are all gone – replaced by some incongruous or phoney personality.

The fourth danger is the impact that it could all have upon others around us. How many fathers or mothers out there regret having spent much of their lives so focused and preoccupied with their jobs, that today, their sons or daughters are complete strangers? How many of us wish that we had been more available when our spouse or kids wanted us our undivided attention?

All this brings us to one of the oldest and most vexing questions confronting us in life and in business life in particular: what then is success?

I believe that asking such a question is precisely asking the wrong question – la question ne se pose pas! Think about it: the moment you become preoccupied with success or failure, you have escaped the gloriousness of the full present. You cannot enjoy things the way that they are but are constantly torturing yourself with the way that they should be. Hopes, fears, ambitions and aspirations are now your day-to-day companions. As they all focus either on the future or the past, they can only prevent you from bringing all of yourself – your passion, energy, creativity, talent and vision - to whatever it is that awaits you today, here and now.

It was Harold B Melchart who once wrote: “Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point.”

<B>Prof E. Charoux

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