What does success look like to you? This is an interesting question to ask because it draws forth different responses from people. There are many forms that success can take: academic achievements, career progression, financial independence, or even starting a family could be considered success for people. Other examples could be having many friends, accumulating high number of likes on your Instagram post, or how many awards one wins etc.
So, there are no fixed paths towards success, nor a single view of what it is.
Looking into our Singapore context, it is often claimed that our society has a narrow view of success, and the ideas and behaviour associated with it are sometimes reinforced unintentionally. An area where this is evident is how the local education system seems so stressful and competitive that students are increasingly suffering from mental health issues. Examples abound such as a parent’s tone of disappointment or shame when a child does not get straight As, or get into a specific course of study like medicine or law. Such professions have limited seats at the table, and if all of us view them as a single point of success, how many people would end up feeling like failures?
On a more positive note, it seems that in recent years, more people are opening their minds to accept different forms of success. What has changed over the years?
The old and irrelevant Singapore Dream: the 5 Cs
In the late 80s and early 90s, there was a common consensus in the pursuit of material wealth by Singaporeans. The Singapore Dream consists of 5 Cs : cash, car, condominium, credit card, and country club memberships. These were the ideals of success in an era where Singapore’s growth was rapid and people were hungry to achieve economic success.
However, a quick search now would give you different sets of Cs that the current generation of Singaporeans are pursuing, example: career, change, connection, compassion, and creativity. (Read more here: what millenials want, and a commentary of the new Cs that we should aspire towards) It goes to show that this new generation will not want to be bound by a single standard of success. This idea that millennials have a new set of aspirations and concerns was also brought up in Parliament recently by Dr Maliki to initiate conversations about how the Government can engage the youth in nation-building initiatives.
Building new pathways to success
When the aspirations and needs of the people are diverse, society needs to create multiple pathways to groom diverse potentials. Old mindsets of having fixed views of success need to be changed. In the past, university degrees in engineering, mathematics and science were viewed to be practical for getting jobs; while the arts and humanities were “dumping grounds” of sorts for those who “cannot make it”. Now, we see more efforts in embracing diversity of talents and dreams, with schools that specialise in arts, music, and dance.
Yet, more can be done, as the arts scene in Singapore is still lacking in recognition, and opportunities to succeed in making a living as writers or artists are sparse. The pathways are being built slowly, but as a whole, we need to allow different talents to carry their badges of success as proudly as the conventional success stories.
As a society, we cannot afford to let dreams die in the process of growing up, or fail our own people by reducing their sense of self-worth in measuring them against unrealistic yardsticks of success.
Questions for further personal evaluation:
- What does success look like to you?
- Why do you think the definition of success changed for the new generation?
Useful vocabulary:
- ‘inherit’: to receive
- ‘fixated’: a developed obsession with something or someone
- ‘render’: cause to be or become
Here are more related articles for further reading:
- Channel NewsAsia: Story of a young local entrepreneur who did not go through the university path and found his own definition of success
“While there is nothing wrong with using qualifications as a benchmark for one’s ability, he thinks there remains an “unhealthy” focus on academic certificates here in Singapore.
“One thing why I love start-ups so much is because the pathway to success is very open,” he said. “It is brutally honest and rewards when you work hard and deliver. Having qualifications doesn’t matter.”
In fact, he has hired an employee who, like him, decided to put aside plans for a degree.
Not that Mr Lee didn’t give university education another shot.
A few years back, he enrolled in a part-time undergraduate program but decided to quit after one semester when he realised that the curriculum lagged behind industry practices.”
- Brainpickings: An essay that curated philosophical ideas around defining our own success and sense of self-worth
“A century and a half after Thoreau contemplated defining one’s own success, Martin writes:
That’s the thing about success… it’s only satisfying if it’s defined by you and influenced most deeply by the people you love and trust. Every era will have its dominant narrative about [what success is]… It’s easy to swallow that narrative whole without inspecting it first, inspecting it constantly.
But the good life is not about easy. It’s about rigorous discernment. It’s about playful dissent. It’s about constantly holding your life up to the light and asking, Where is the potential for connection and creativity? What can I let go of because it’s somebody else’s idea of what would make me secure/happy/accomplished? Who are my people and how can I build a life where I am with them more of the time in a less distracted way?”
Picture credits:https://unsplash.com/photos/rk_Zz3b7G2Y