By XiRen Wang
There are as many versions of success as there are people interpreting it. My own definition of success, which has evolved over time, is being in a position to lead a life doing what you love, and lighting up the world around you. Success isn't merely the attainment of a scholastic goal or career milestone - it can't be external, because there's no end to this chase, and unless you are fulfilled, collecting trophies only polishes the veneer.
Success is the journey of becoming aligned with your values and what lights you up. Success is becoming fully realized, more deeply grounded, and more in tune with what your own voice is. Success is the feeling of making decisions that empower --- having the pen in your own hand, writing your own story, instead of playing the part of whatever role you were cast to be, in someone else's script.
Success is dependent upon a confluence of factors both within and beyond our control.
Focusing on the former will empower us, but any focus on the latter will push us towards depression or anxiety. Creativity is the third alternative --- think of success as a mode of being, rather than a result. Reframing concepts is one way to tilt your landscape a little. I'm a firm believer of reframing and converting what doesn't work for us, into something that will end up working for us. What is the other option? Warping our selves to fit something that doesn't align with us? Surely this sounds like a bad idea when presented this way, but in fact, most people do just that, unconsciously --- until the misalignment derails us. Â
In school and in life, when we set our gaze upon external goals and metrics, we often overlook the intangible assets that make us powerful. If there's anything I learned from all the failures I've accumulated, is that we are incapable of making good decisions when we are disempowered. Generally speaking, nothing good comes from a place of lack and fear. But there are always exceptions.
Some of us are equipped with the special power to reverse bad weather, and turn impediments into assets. This kind of counter-current thinking is powered by creativity, which in my own experience and observation, is the most important trait for success in school and beyond.
Creativity is in essence, lifestyle design and academic life design.
It's the audacity to create a collage in the blank space of a page intended for Queen's Chancellor's scholarship --- where most people paste in lines of text instead. Creativity is what powered my own university entrance applications, and scholarship essays. Being able to piece-meal a mostly global education on a full-scholarship, while traveling the world. Creativity is using time wisely, having everything work for you --- even, and especially, the not so great parts of life.
Creativity helps us navigate the rules of institutions and of life, so that we are on a path that is the best fit for who we are and who we are about to become.
Creativity is what allows us to forge connections where others see emptiness.
Creativity is what powers entrepreneurs, across all industries.
Don't simply look at the empires that people have built, but look at how they were built, and what they were built with and from. From Coco Chanel to Jay Abraham, from Starbucks to Under Armour, replace your distractions with the stories of icons and giants that started out with very humble beginnings, and just a whisper of an idea. Power your mind with great books such as How to Think Like A Great Graphic Designer, and never take advice from someone who isn't in the trenches with you or invested in your success and well-being.
Creativity is what powered me to piece together my undergrad education while making and using my first six figures all before I moved to New York City to pursue an entirely separate career --- leaving the diplomatic path to be in the creative arts. Creativity then became what sustained me as most jobs I worked, I had to compete with hundreds and at times even thousands of others, and they lasted but a few days, before I became jobless again. Creativity is what allowed me to see possibilities over the daunting uncertainty and zero security. Creativity is what pushed me back onto the path of entrepreneurship, because success, as I define it these days, is owning our life and time, and the only way to truly own our time is to be building our own empires, and not simply talent for hire.
Truthfully, I wish I had mentors to guide me, but given the landscape of where my creativity has led me, and all the sharp turns and tumbling falls along the way, I'm sad to report that the only person I ever asked to mentor me (the founder of the Trans-Siberian orchestra) has passed away in recent years.
So, I've turned to internet school because the democratization of information is truly a gift of the times. I've tested over hundreds of products since online learning became a thing, and these are the three that have given me the most returns, and they are what I continue to invest in daily --- may they be of benefit!
(This is not a paid post)
XiRen Wang is a nomad turned New Yorker, an actress, musician, and writer. Her voice conveys the plight of any Third Culture being, through hyper-personal accounts of adventures and misadventures of the millennial life. Her attitude channels the universal #girlboss, and her columns are essentially the life lessons she’s missed from all the years of elite education she’s privileged to have received. As a radio DJ, she has a pulse on what’s trending and hosts/produces several programs on culture, wellness, and lifestyle. Musically, she’s a Juilliard trained pianist, composer, and Scratch academy DJ.
Self-Development via Audible
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