The Success Trap: Finding True Fulfillment

Hello, hello! Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of SORRY NOT SORRY. I'm Magda and today I'm going to talk about success that can become your greatest enemy. The biggest danger for most of us is not that we aim too high and miss, But that we aim too low and hit. These are supposedly the words of Michelangelo, which perfectly capture the essence of today's podcast. In this context, aiming too low means focusing on achieving a specific, static position in life, primarily or exclusively striving for material success and the lifestyle it provides.

On the other hand, aiming high means constantly striving for self-actualization. And these two things don't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive, but unfortunately, they often are. And it's precisely because of success. I think most people associate success with something positive, desirable, something that can bring peace and fulfillment. But is success always like that? I don't think so. What looks like success from the outside can just as easily be felt as a deep failure on the inside. And I believe this happens when so-called success and the lifestyle it brings stop you from pursuing what truly and deeply matters to you.

What has value, meaning and significance, which is the path to self-actualization. How does this usually happen in practice? Almost all of us face a conflict in our lives where two forces usually clash. Social expectations or the options of people close to us about what matters in life and how we should live. And our inner drive towards what has been deeply important and meaningful to us since childhood, regardless of what others think. I believe that everyone has certain inclinations from a young age that we usually forget about during the process of growing up.

Our own path. Of course, we might also be lucky and find ourselves in an environment that prioritizes what it sees in us and helps us analyze it practically instead of feeding us the truth about life, but that happens far too rarely, especially in a world of so-called success propaganda. Zazwyczaj, przynajmniej na początku naszego wyjątkowego, dorosłego życia, te zewnętrzne wpływy i oczekiwania innych dominują. To jest to, co przebiega, jako młodzi ludzie, zbędne na tych rzeczach, tych percepcjach życia. We make our first life choices. We embark on a path.

Simply put, we start achieving our first successes. And we even like it. We are doing great. It seems we are doing the right thing because we are achieving more and more. Ale za chwilę, szybciej czy później, jeśli nie jesteśmy na właściwym drodze dla siebie, zaczynamy zdawać sobie sprawę, że mimo wszystkich tych sukcesów, coś w naszej życiu jest wciąż nieznane. I wtedy nasz cały sukces może stać się trafem, jeśli nie jesteśmy ostrożni. Musimy ciągle robić to, co działa. I często to, co działa, to to, co nas przywołało, to sukces w pierwszym miejscu. I nawet jeśli zrozumiemy, że jest droga, która nas nazywa od wnętrza, zmienia jej kierunkę.

I ten etap może być bardzo trudny, ponieważ silne, prymalne siły zaczynają pracować przeciwko nam i generować kolejny konflikt wewnątrz. Should we risk potentially losing what we have, lowering our status for something uncertain and unclear, or continue doing what works and gives us tangible, real results for years? As human beings, we generally don't like losing. We don't like lowering our status. Even if what we are doing doesn't bring us any particular satisfaction or fulfillment. So we are afraid of loss and potential failure at the same time.

Double costs terrify us. It really seems like an unprofitable deal in this situation. Of course, there are people who could reconcile both paths, move from the path of success and redirect towards self-actualizations. Ale nawet wtedy jest niemożliwe uniknąć pewnych kosztów, takich jak energia i czas.

I teraz coś bardzo ważnego. Wybieraj swoje. Pomyśl o tym, jaki rodzaj bólu chcesz przeżywać w życiu i na jaki cel. Bo będzie tam. Nie możesz go uniknąć. And from experience I know it's much easier to endure, much easier to overcome obstacles, do things and work towards something that has true significance for you beyond the material, Now how to avoid this entire situation? I think it's worth making self-actualization your goal, not success.

This will make the most important thing taking the next steps, learning, rather than achieving a specific position. Self-actualization has no end. It's a moving, living goal that partly fits itself and partly results from your work with yourself and on something that has true significance for you. It's not something rigid that you constantly have to feed like success. To simplify, think of it like gardening. Self-actualization is like planting a tree that grows and bears fruit over time.

On the other hand, is like a bucket of flowers. A bunch of flowers. Beautiful. But it requires constant attention and eventually fades away. So, it's worth asking yourself a simple question. What am I really aiming for in life? More towards planting trees or picking flowers . Am I investing in long-term growth or short-term beauty? Oczywiście, możesz zrobić obie w tym samym czasie. Mam nadzieję, że z świadomością o sukcesowym trapie, o którym dzisiaj opowiedziałam, będzie dla Ciebie zdecydowanie łatwiejsze.