Success

I've briefly considered the concept of success as an illusion. A question often asked of people in high-ranking positions is how they became so successful. People look for easy ways to achieve success, without truly contemplating what success actually is. Society and media have glorified the glowing man in the tuxedo raking in a large salary, and the public has eaten that image up. But is that really how someone should define their life? Do we need a holy grail, a goal to seek?

I think not. I've also been looking into the concept of Zen, in many forms. The one that appeals to me the most can be summarized with one of Einstein's famous quotes: "I never think of the future - it comes soon enough."

When you think of the future, you often consider it relative to now. I'll do this tomorrow. Tomorrow will be better. At least tomorrow's Friday. Tomorrow is forecast to be warmer than today. Etc. But this can be exhausting. You create an expectation for what is to come. When tomorrow comes, and it doesn't pan out as well as you had previously planned, it is discouraging. Yes, keep track of the things you have to do, but do them. Don't plan to do it later if you can do it today.

Now that is a crock of horse shit coming from me. I am an enormous procrastinator. But I'm not proud of it. I know I have a problem, and it is always in the back of my mind to try and fix it.

I digress. In some aspects of life it is necessary to have a plan. But in general, the holy grail is something you can fight for if you'd like to, but you don't need it.