Success

Ignoring the cliché deep introspective stares from the audience and emotional music overlay at the end of the clip, the words spoken by Kevin Spacey in this excerpt from Inside the Actors Studio provide some insight into what it means to be successful. The somewhat common sense advice on ambition vs. achievement is something most recognise as true but often find easier to overlook.

It’s easy to see those who are successful in their chosen field and feel animosity or a sense of self doubt and deterrence at their rapid rise to success. People are quick to pass over the hard work that has gone on behind the scenes, the sacrifices made and the years of struggling required to chase the dream.

As a society we are quick to glamorise the perks of success, whether it’s celebrities or even our own friends, in our current ostentatious Facebook society the equation ‘hard work = success’ has been replaced by the fallacy that ‘success = success’. As individuals we feel almost entitled and I’m as guilty of it as the next person (I recognise the hypocrisy of blogging about this).

Those who are genuinely working towards their goals aren’t posting social media updates about it, they’re working – hard. But when all you see or hear about is the end result, we believe they lucked out, it was just an overnight success! The reality is overnight success is rare in both occurrence and thereafter longevity, those who experience it often fall as quickly as they emerged.

To exemplify success it is simple to choose someone in the spotlight, but in saying this there are just as many, if not more people who would consider themselves successful, who fly under the radar; names the general population would never recognise – people’s parents, teachers, friends etc. Ultimately success is dictated by the parameters you set upon yourself and if you’re not quite sure what those are yet, that’s fine, join the club. But one thing is for certain, waiting for opportunities to fall in your lap, won’t make anything happen sooner. Mr Spacey’s message may not point you in the right direction but hopefully it will get you moving.