What is success?

 What is success?

What is success in life? What about success in business? Have you ever seriously pondered about this notion of success? People have different definitions of success.

For some, it's becoming wealthy, for others, it's attaining high status. Some define it as living a life where they can fully utilize their talents, while others see it as living a life worthy of admiration. And then, there are those who define it simply as achieving career advancement without hesitation.

Despite the negative connotations that career advancement may carry, as there's a saying that goes "if you feel unfairly treated, strive for success," why do people strive for career advancement? It's because reaching a position where you can change the rules of the game. Especially in countries like South Korea with relatively low transparency, it means not being unfairly treated. The dictionary definition of "career advancement" is gaining fame in the world and rising to a higher position.

The works of Imunyeol, "Our Distorted Heroes," and Hwang Suk-young's "For My Brother" are stories surrounding the power symbolized by the position of class president within the small confines of a school fence.

In his content "Long Live Success," Producer Nam Kyu-hong reflects on why former ministers bowed their heads when receiving their appointment letters from the president. Even the late President Kim Dae-jung noted in his memoirs how intimidating it was to meet those in power...

As such, we all have very diverse thoughts about success. So, what is the definition of success according to the field of success studies?

When it comes to success studies, one of the most representative theories is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Abraham Harold Maslow, a psychologist, posited that human desires can be categorized into five stages.

The first stage is physiological needs such as eating and excreting, the second stage is the need for safety to preserve one's own life, the third stage is the need for belongingness and love to ensure one's sense of existence, the fourth stage is the need for esteem, which is a higher level of self-esteem, and the fifth stage is the need for self-actualization.

Satisfying the lower-level needs of stages 1 and 2, such as eating delicious food, loving beautiful women, and earning a lot of money to buy luxury cars and nice houses, cannot provide the highest satisfaction. That's why people who have earned a certain amount of money strive for recognition and move towards stage 4, where they can become politicians and gain honor. However, it's well known that those who enter politics with such purposes often cause problems in the end.

If the highest need of self-actualization, the top level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is not fulfilled, people will feel thirsty regardless of whether they have satisfied any of the lower-level needs. In other words, when people get closer to their cherished dream of 'self-actualization,' they feel the greatest happiness and sense of achievement.