Satisfaction or Success?
What if it’s not success we truly seek in life – but satisfaction?
I have been on multiple quests throughout my life.
Along the way, I have sought a place to truly call home. Not just the location. The notion of home – where I am rooted and meant to be. Though still a bit vague – I have found that.
I sought a career. There were many different job ideas that I pursued. Radio DJ, theatre, graphic arts, journalism, customer service, tech support, marketing, retail – I’ve worked in all these industries. But always I circled back to writing. That is the career I desire. Still a work in progress – but that’s my pursuit.
I looked for a relationship. To avoid the pitfalls I watched my parents go through after their divorce – I had some pretty fucked up notions on this topic. I was a serial monogamist who sucked at relationships for a long time. Somehow, I am still friends with many of my exes despite how bad I was. Then, I found someone I truly connected with in ways I hardly believed possible – and I have an amazing wife.
With each of these quests in my life, I sought success. Or so I’ve believed. But now, I have a new idea. What if success isn’t the goal? What if the goal is simpler? Could it be satisfaction?
Examining my Pathwalking life philosophy closely, I believe the answer has not been so much about success as it has been satisfaction.
How does that impact conscious reality creation, mindfulness, and choosing a path? Let’s find out together.
Is success really what we seek?
It’s almost impossible not to be online, and at some point or other get bombarded and overwhelmed by notions of success – both real and totally bullshit.
We’re constantly seeing stories about Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and other business “successes”. Likewise, many buy into the idea of success connected to Donald Trump, the Koch Brothers, the Walton family, and others who abuse the system and cause tremendous harm to benefit only themselves.
How do success and satisfaction differ? I believe that’s a matter of measurement. Much of which is based on artifice.
Measuring ourselves against such giants is pointless. They represent a lot of situations, circumstances, luck, and other matters that cannot be duplicated. And, frankly, probably shouldn’t be. Yet still, many buy into this false idea that success is the only thing in life worth having.
But what if that’s not what most of us truly desire? What if it’s really all about satisfaction?
I know, for example, that I like the feeling of control in the choices I have made. It’s satisfying to know I live in the area where I belong, I’m pursuing the career path I most believe in, and I’ve found an incredible relationship partner in my wife. All of these are satisfying.
When all is said and done that feels extremely good.
What’s more, that sense of satisfaction feels like the goal to the quests I’ve undertaken in my life.
Hence why I believe that the ideas of success with anything in life are often mislabeled. On further analysis, I believe that more than success – we crave that sense of satisfaction in what we do in life.
Satisfaction is more than a feeling
Just like success is rather vague and intangible when you attempt to define it – satisfaction is as well.
The feeling of satisfaction is a positive sense. To me, it’s calm, peaceful, contented. Satisfaction is tied to looking around at the notion and thinking “Yes! This is it!”
And that’s why satisfaction is more than a feeling. There is thought to it because it is connected to mindfulness. Intention and action are also tied into it.
When I stand in my home office, place my hands on my hips, and look around me – I feel it. This is my space. It is here, in this place, where I do my work. Yes, I love how it feels to be in this space. This is where I belong. My thoughts find their way from my mind to my fingers, through the keyboard, and onto the screen. Then I get to share them with you.
Five hundred weeks ago, I had an idea. I desired to start writing at least one blog post a week. On Wednesday, January 4, 2012, I wrote my first pathwalk and began to make that a reality. This brought about a sense of satisfaction that I repeated every single week for over nine-a-half years.
This opened the door to more regular writing. Before long, I was blogging twice a week. Then three times a week. And then six days a week. Now, I get that sense of satisfaction with every completed essay.
It goes beyond feeling – it’s almost an instinct. That sense of confidence and completion.
As I consider where I’ve been working to get to. as I walk the paths of my life, I am seeing this new idea with tremendous clarity.
Success is great – but it’s not real.
Success is a construct
Satisfaction is real. It’s an attainable, tangible sensation that can have a major impact on us. It opens doors, feels good, and inspires and empowers.
Success, however, is an artifice. It’s a measure that we attempt to reach without understanding it’s a construct. Because it’s an artificial construct, it’s vague and always in motion.
How do you measure success? When it comes to finances this is utterly artificial. Does having enough money to pay all your bills on time and build up some savings make you a success? Must you have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars to your name? Or do you need to be a millionaire? A billionaire? The first trillionaire? Which of these is the correct measure?
All of them. Because while some people need to have that ludicrous amount of money to their name – others just need enough to be comfortable. Success to some is living debt-free and without fear. To some, success is having two cars, a yacht, and three homes. All are right – and utterly artificial.
Why do we need to have success? I am finding myself surprised that it’s taken me this long to reach this realization.
We seek success because we think with it comes ultimate satisfaction.
Falsely, we equate success with that moment of, “Yes! I made it! I did it! This is so satisfying!” Then, we look to those big names and their measure of success – and are made to feel lesser when we’re not even close to their levels.
Nobody needs that false level of success for satisfaction
Let’s do some super basic math here.
Let’s say that, realistically, to live debt-free and build some savings you need, individually, to earn $60,000 a year. That’s what it would take to cover all the basics and give you more than enough. Abundance. Satisfaction.
But, to be fair, let’s have enough to travel at any time, buy awesome gifts for friends and family, and make regular donations to multiple worthy causes around the globe. Let’s say you earn $100,000 a year. You want for nothing and can be uber-generous. Both strangers and loved ones benefit from your abundance. Just the idea of this feels so, so satisfactory to me.
That much money would be super satisfying to me. And I know full-well it’s a lot more than I really, truly need to feel satisfied with my life quests and experiences. But the $100,000 is idealistic and makes for easy math.
So, let’s say you’re a millionaire. Do you believe that 10 times that amount is 10 times more satisfying? Does it make you 10 times more successful? I can’t fathom how it could.
Now, let’s say you’re a billionaire. That’s 10,000 times the amount of money we set out as ultimately satisfying. Do you believe that 10,000 times that amount is 10,000 times more satisfying? Does it make you 10,000 times more successful? Frankly, I suspect it’s the opposite – because you’re now constantly on guard for loss, theft, jealousy, and maintaining appearances.
Millionaire. Billionaire. Do these measures of success increase satisfaction, sometimes exponentially? I highly doubt it.
Finding satisfaction is easier than we think
This is why success is not, I believe, what we truly seek. In reality, I believe that we’re all after satisfaction, not success. And it takes a lot less than we are led to believe that it requires.
When you stop pursuing these big, overwhelming notions of success – and instead focus on satisfaction – the pressure is off.
I believe that when more people strive to be satisfied rather than successful, we improve ourselves. We empower ourselves.
Lastly – success is often tied to competition. There’s an utterly false belief in lack, scarcity, and insufficiency when it comes to attaining success. Thus, people do unspeakable things to one another, lack kindness, compassion, and basic human decency in a bullshit competition to reach the pinnacle of success.
But is that truly satisfactory when all is said and done?
Satisfaction is satisfying. It feels good, and complete, and worthwhile. And I don’t know about you – but I like it even more when I can share it. My path may belong to me and me alone – but that doesn’t mean I can’t share it and be a guide for you on your life path.
That feeling of satisfaction isn’t artificial nor false. And it’s not simply a feeling – it’s thought, intention, action, and conscious awareness. It is an entire sense. Finding it is sublimely empowering.
The ultimate key to the paths we choose in life – the philosophies by which we live – is to be empowered and find and/or create satisfaction. That sense has meaning, context, and connectivity both within and without.
What if it’s not success we truly seek in life – but satisfaction?
What makes you feel satisfied?
This is the five-hundredth exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are ideas for – and my personal experiences with – mindfulness and walking along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Additionally, I desire to empower myself and my readers with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-blog and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. My additional writing, both fiction and non-fiction, are available here.
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