VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION
Hey guys. Welcome back to another installment of A Spacesuit for the Soul. Today, I’m going to be talking about what is success, and what does success mean to you, and to me, and to everybody. How do you interpret success? I want to talk about this because really, when you think about success, you know, it all depends on the culture you’re in, the society you’re in, and where you’re living, right? So in Western culture, in the United States specifically, typically people look at success as something that you’ve achieved when you’ve got a higher status, or a higher net worth, or some type of fame, and as long as you get those things, or one of those things, you’re considered successful.
But is that really success? Is that what will really fulfill you on the inside? You know, when you really think about that, I think that you’ll look at success a little differently. For me, kind of the best way to share my feelings on that is to kind of start out by sharing my story. So, I’m an entrepreneur. You know, I wasn’t always an entrepreneur. I was just working in the corporate world, and then I started my company. At this time of filming this blog, I’ve had one of my companies for 15 years. Over the years, I’ve built other companies and invested in many companies. I have a digital marketing firm. I have a luxury fountain company. I have a software company. I have a food company. And when I say have, in some cases, I’m a major stakeholder or managing partner of those companies. So I’m invested in a few multimillion dollar companies that have done quite well.
So, a lot of friends and family may look at me and say, “Hey, you’re a successful guy, you know? You’ve made it, you know? You’ve done well for yourself.” But for me personally, that isn’t enough. That isn’t really fulfilling, because I’ve achieved what you may consider business success, and I’m making money. For me personally, I know that down deep, that isn’t what success really means, and what I really want to have out of life. So for me, this is the reason why I’m even doing this blog in the first place, because for me, I want to serve others. I want to inspire others. I want to help others. And the best way I can do that is by using some of the skills that I built along the way in business, and one of those is public speaking, selling, communicating, and also promoting, right? So in building websites, in marketing, in all of those things.
Now, I can take that skillset and those talents that I’ve built up over the years and now apply that into the form of a blog, or speaking events, or whatever, to help others in some way to maybe have a life of a little more meaning, a little more purpose, and ultimately happiness. So for me, by doing this, my hope is that it will bring me more happiness, and me more fulfillment, while I’m helping others, but also I would like that to be my success. I would like that to be my story, and not because of monetary value, and not because of status symbol, but simply because it’s something that’s truly from the heart and from the soul, and something that is really helping others.
And that’s why I want to talk about success today, and what that means to you, and what that means to me. The question I’d like you to ask yourself is can living with purpose, can living with true purpose, equal what you could consider success? And I say that because I think a lot of us, we work, you know, every day, and we’re working to achieve goals, and sometimes, it’s climbing the ladder. Sometimes it’s getting that raise, getting that bump in pay, investing in another business, whatever it may be, but is that purpose? Is that true what I would call life’s purpose? And if you could imagine doing something that would be your life’s purpose rather than going through the corporate ladder, would that life’s purpose be considered success to you? I want you to think about that. I want you to ponder on that question.
When we talk about success, we typically also think of it as something physical, right? Something that feeds the ego. So whenever you’re acquiring things, right? And physical things, and more and more and more, is it ever enough, right? You say, “Well, if I reach a million dollar salary, or if I make $5 million for retirement, I’m going to be considered a success, in my eyes and the eyes of my peers,” but what typically happens is that you want more, right? So you achieve a little more, you want more. You buy a bigger boat. You buy a bigger house. You buy a bigger whatever, but it’s never really enough, because really, what you’re feeding is your physical wants, your physical needs, and the ego is what’s considered… you know, called the ego.
I would like you to ask yourself if moving in a different direction, something that feeds the soul, and feeds the spirit, and feeds what’s inside you, and puts you more in this life’s purpose, something that could be considered successful to you, right? I personally believe that the answer is yes, right? Because if you are living life’s purpose, you’ll have more happiness and more fulfillment, and ultimately, you’ll be successful.
But how do you do that. How do you start moving in the direction of a true life’s purpose? Well, I’ll probably be doing blogs on that, because that alone is just a massive subject that we could talk about for hours and hours, but the one thing that you really have to do to get started along this path is to listen. Listen to your inner self, right? I’ve talked about, before, the form versus the formless, right? The form is the physical world, the realm we live in, the body we live in. The formless is the spirit. The formless is god. The formless is something we can’t see and we can’t touch, but it’s inside.
It’s inside our hearts, and it’s inside our minds, and if you can look within, and I know that you can, we all can, we all have the ability to look within, then you’ll start listening, and you’ll start hearing little signs of where your life should go and what direction it should go in, truly, truly go in, rather than just up a corporate ladder to get a bigger paycheck to buy a bigger thing. And that’s great. I’m not knocking people for doing that at all. You’ve got to support yourself. You’ve got to support your family. So I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but I’m saying just to open your mind and ask yourself, is what you’re doing truly successful, on the inside? Is it giving you purpose, and fulfillment, and happiness? And if it’s not, just start listening to yourself. Look for the clues. Listen for the clues.
Another way to do that is also to meditate, something that I’m personally working on. I’ve got a long ways to go on that, but that’s a great way to be still, and to be silent, and have that self-reflection, and listen, listen within, and then start moving in a different direction if that’s what’s calling to you. So, today’s blog was just about that, about that topic, about expanding your mind a little bit, opening up to what success can be for you, and then maybe kind of a way to just get started along that path.
So, I guess that’s it. I’d love to see some of your comments and open up a discussion about it, but thanks for listening, and I hope you got something out of it.
Roger Janik
