What is the difference between success and fulfillment?
Photo: Statue at Penn State Biz School
In her book If Success is a Game, These are the Rules, Cherie Carter-Scott notes that success is measured primarily by standards outside ourselves, while fulfillment is assessed internally. No one can deem you fulfilled except you. However, the world, with its objective criteria, can and does judge you as successful if you measure up to its standard.Success: “If the world judges you as successful, it means either that you have realized your own goals and expectations or that you have exceeded normal, average standards held by the majority of people. Accomplishments are the main barometer the world uses to measure success: breaking records, amassing fortunes, being the first to do something, or changing current mind-sets all qualify. Being the best at something, conquering, curing, breaking through some barrier, all deem one eligible to enter the hallowed halls of success.”
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Photo: Penn State campus
Fulfillment, however, is quite different: “Fulfillment is a feeling that comes from within your soul that radiates through your being. It is the feeling of deep satisfaction and contentment you experience at the end of the day when you lie in bed before drifting off into sleep, knowing in your heart and your bones that you have met or exceeded your expectations of yourself. To be fulfilled means to be ‘filled full’ with a sense of well-being.
Photo: Penn State campus
Fulfillment, however, is quite different: “Fulfillment is a feeling that comes from within your soul that radiates through your being. It is the feeling of deep satisfaction and contentment you experience at the end of the day when you lie in bed before drifting off into sleep, knowing in your heart and your bones that you have met or exceeded your expectations of yourself. To be fulfilled means to be ‘filled full’ with a sense of well-being. What comes to mind for you when you think about "success"?
What are the images you see? Do you imagine reaching the apex of your profession? Or do you imagine amassing great wealth? Does it mean seeing your face on the cover of national magazines or reading your name in Who's Who? For some people, success may be any one or all of these.
Photo: Penn State Honor Code
For others, it may be something entirely different. To some success looks like a grand achievement, to others it resembles daily rewards, and still others measure it as the accomplishment of an underlying life mission such as raising socially responsible children, or simply living ethically, honorably, or according to their values and conscience. Success can be assessed externally by observers evaluating whether you have met a standard established by society; however, at the end of the day, there is either a peaceful feeling within you or there is emptiness. The peaceful feeling signals that you have lived up to your expectations and personal visions for yourself. The emptiness is a clue that you were striving toward a definition of success and fulfillment that was never really yours to begin with.
Reflection: What good is it for a man to gain the whole world,
and yet lose or forfeit his very self? (Luke 9:25)
Source: Cherie Carter-Scott (2000) If Success is a Game, These are the Rules – Ten rules for a fulfilling life.
