Framing Of What Success Means Determines Where You Land

By Suresh Sadagopan

Vinod is an IT Engineer working for a medium-sized IT firm in Bengaluru and earning well. He had been working for 5 years and had got used to the rhythm of a big city. In spite of his high income, he was feeling lost and unhappy sometimes.

By contrast, he had seen his father since childhood, a carpenter, shape wood into tables, cots, sofas, chairs, doors, etc. His father was a simple man, worked diligently and raised his three kids with his modest earnings. He had never seen his mother complain even once about the lack of money or things. They were content and happy about their simple life.

Vinod had wondered how people who had so little complained less about life than those who had a whole lot more.

On careful rumination and further investigation, he understood that this can be called Success Framing, which encapsulates what success means to us. There are so many aspects which determine and contribute to this, like the experiences throughout life, what we have learned from parents and others since childhood, friends, influencers, media, society, our own insights, etc.

Success, achievement and recalibration - The definition of Success determines our destination. Success can mean achievement in a field, and the validation of that would be the vertiginous climb, recognition and awards, reputation, etc.

For some, success may mean wealth and status. Some others may frame life success as living a meaningful life, focusing on what they consider important, like relationships, memorable experiences, doing what they truly enjoy, etc., which all sum up as intentional living.

The definition we have in our head determines the efforts we are willing to put in, what we are willing to give up for it and the happiness we will experience when that success manifests. But many times, we are not happy because the goalposts change.

For instance, when the wealth goalpost was Rs.5 crores, and we achieved it, a vacuum is felt, and the goalpost shifts to a higher figure, like, say, Rs.10 Crores. A home goal achieved morphs into another home or a holiday home.

Defining personal Success - None of us want to be on an endless treadmill. For that, we need to resist the temptation of adopting someone else’s definition of success or any of the accepted definitions of success in society.

Most people have not given sufficient thought to what success means to them. We need to ask what we want to succeed at, what intrinsic motivation and drive do we bring to bear in that march towards that success, and where is that finish line ( success metric ) to indicate that we have crossed the portals of what we have defined as success.

A simpler way to examine it is whether the current trajectory is taking them to the destination they want to be in, say 10 or 15 years.

In the absence of a clear vision of what success looks like, we will regress to the accepted definitions of success by default. We will be putting in efforts to achieve a version of success that we do not even care for. When efforts are channelled to something that we do not care enough about, we feel the drag and stress.

Having clarity about success matters, for that will ensure that the efforts we put in along the way in our journey seem worthwhile. When we do achieve what we have worked for, we feel the sense of achievement and contentment that comes with crossing the finish line.

The role of Financial Advisors in this - Financial advisors are faced with the problem of recognising what success means to a client.

Many times, the client seems to follow the beaten track and have familiar goal templates which denote the accepted versions of success in our society. Their goals reflect that, and life along the way seemed like an uphill climb.

It would be wrong for the advisor to accept the client’s take on what success means for them, without probing and understanding if it is indeed a well-thought-through vision for the client. This is an important duty of the advisor, where they start with understanding what their client truly wants to achieve and if it is the real, heartfelt desire.

If a plan is created with that clarity, the way ahead for the clients would be paved well and enable them to cruise smoothly towards achieving their cherished goals. This will make the client-advisor relationship a wonderful partnership as the destination is clearly defined, the goals along the way are known, and the chances of random changes are minimal.

Financial Advisors need to work for client success. Helping them understand where the clients want to go is the first step in that. People like Vinod need to understand that they have to get their success definition right. That clarity would be the difference between a life of purpose and a stressful life.

(The author is Managing Director & Principal Officer, Ladder7 Wealth Planners Pvt. Ltd., Investment Advisory Division)

(Disclaimer: Views expressed are the author’s own, and Outlook Money does not necessarily subscribe to them. Outlook Money shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.)