Say goodbye to the false vision of early success

Forbe’s 30 under 30 made another headline in the news. Charlie Javice, who made it to the list in 2019 as the CEO of Frank that helps navigate students’ financial resources, is now being charged with multiple accounts of bank fraud for faking its customer account numbers. The fraud was so perfect that it even got JPMorgan Chase to purchase the company for $175 million in 2021. This eerily reminds us of Elizabeth Holmes, who founded the fake blood testing company, Theranos. Of course, we can’t forget Sam Bankman-Fried who faces multiple charges of bribing and money laundering in his former crypto exchange company called FTX. What is really sad is that they don’t realize the extent of their wrong actions. Is the world really coming to an end? What is going on?

Before I turned 30, I felt the pressure that I needed to succeed early. I thought if I wasn’t in a certain level in a company by 30, it will be harder to get to where I want to be. If I wanted to get married and have kids, all the more, I felt that I needed to be in a senior position to be able to afford a more flexible lifestyle. Then there were people who achieved remarkable success with tech’s unicorn startups. Everyone around me then were motivated and inspired to ‘make it’ before 30 just like Larry Page & Sergey Brin of Google. We were young and it was beautiful to pursue dreams, but no one really stopped and asked, why the pressure to succeed early? Now that I turned 40, I’m now feeling a different pressure that we need to, and should want to retire early. It’s as though retiring early is the symbol of new success for the grown-ups.

The right vision of success is the positive impact that we make on the people and community around us. This success doesn’t have a timeline nor ego. It doesn’t say we can only make positive impact before 30 or after retirement. Success is never about the person. With the false vision of success, one starts thinking more about ego than the world at large. Like Holmes, one starts thinking of ways to ‘fake it till making it’. They then take shortcuts in life to get ahead. One starts making decisions that are short-run and are miserably comparing oneself to the others.

The secret to breaking away from this toxic mindset and ever growing pressure to succeed early is to understand that each of us has our own unique journey. There is absolutely no need to compare and get anxious because we’re on a unique path. This path is entirely one’s own to find, explore, shape, nurture, and expand. When what we can uniquely offer lines up with what the world needs, that’s when we’re able to really use our talents to serve the broader community. That’s what happiness, peace and true success is. This true success can come early or late in life, which are both perfectly fine.

Julia Child, whose name is synonymous with French cooking, published her first cookbook when she was 50 years old. Before Julia was a chef, she worked in media and advertising. Vera Wang, whose wedding dresses are always on the top wish list among the brides-to-be, entered into fashion when she was 40 years old. She was a figure skater and a journalist up until that point. Toni Morrison, the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature did so when she was 62. You get the point. It is never too late to change careers, to pursue passion, or to succeed.

Success can come at any age and so is retirement. Regardless of what the society seems to be saying about the right age to succeed or retire, focus on your inner voice to listen to how you want to define success and live your life. Life is not a race. It is a beautiful journey that’s very personal. So let’s all enjoy the ride by living each day with a full heart, positivity and curiosity — ready to explore, fail, and explore more.

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