The Iyalode

Success has been rightly defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.

From the above, the starting point of a success journey is setting a purpose. This greatly contradicts the common pattern/ unspoken teachings on the streets of Nigeria. In Nigeria, people grow up with the understanding of success as a reflection of successful people in the society.

Perhaps because of references to ‘successful people’ in the society (which usually would be people with a level of financial stability, even though the future would usually reveal that this is usually a perception and not a true reflection of these people’s financial stance), Nigerians usually grow up believing money is synonymous with success. And though this belief is false, the country has experienced a lot of great men who made good impacts in their little space but who still believed they were not successful.

Mostly, the measure of success is left in the hands of the society, and people judge themselves based on societal perception. What this means is that no matter how a particular person keeps smashing his or her goals, if the society measures success by fame or financial wealth, this person is considered to be unsuccessful.

The above observation is what causes many people to live unfulfilled lives or get weighed down with inferiority complex which then ultimately leads to emotional and mental distress.

The first step to breaking free from this unfortunate chain is to set regular goals. And while the next step is to regularly measure the achievement of these goals, it should always end with celebrating the little successes. If we have to wait till we hit it big before identifying the little achievements, we may not even realize when the big win comes; because it is human nature to never get satisfied, there will always be a need greater than the one we started with.

It is also human nature to have more excitement when pursuing a goal than when one eventually achieve it. The feeling that comes with post-achievement would not sum up to 10% of the total excitement, and as such we are quick to look forward to the next big thing

And here is why each win should be identified as an accomplishment, which will not happen if there was no set goal to start with. And if the true meaning of success is embraced by people, and we quit measuring our level of success by what the society says, we will actually have more happy people alive.

Unfortunately from experience, not many people ever get to this height of understanding in life.