The desire to achieve quick success and money is a challenge that affects many people in this generation. To most people, success and money can never be separated. They believe that money can help them buy everything they need in life. As a result, these people who do not have or rather get this money as they expect to stay depressed and hence look for ways of acquiring this money.
Moreover, the desire for money and wealth has transcended people’s ability to effectively choose their careers, which motivates them more than other careers’ financial stability. Many youths today have wondered how they can get rich so fast. Youths are thus encouraged to appreciate the value of hard work as the means to success. Youths are advised to nurture their skills and pursue a career that motivates them. This paper seeks to examine the judgments and interpretations of people regarding success and wealth.
The term success has been interpreted in different ways. First, success is defined as a level of success. Second, success is defined as the act of achieving or getting respect, wealth, or fame. Success means different things for many people. To succeed, there is a virtue that one is expected to exhibit. Education is regarded as one way to impart skills and abilities to individuals so that they can succeed. According to Sonya and others (7), education plays a significant role in imparting reverent skills in students’ minds, especially those at the higher level of education. Through the study they conducted at Georgetown University, these authors aim to encourage students’ ideas through funding. They established that students had the capacity to enhance their writing skills by writing grants at a pay. These students were found to have grown professionally and could utilize their ideas and competencies in a manner that they could make money. These authors encourage the youths to participate in reproach projects that will benefit them and their community. Youths should also go for career choices that motivate them so that they can be able to establish real motivation that will drive them in whatever career paths they wish to take. The authors acknowledge the fact that certain jobs can drive people so fast to financial stability. However, they advise the youths not to be pushed into these career fields for inappropriate reasons. Additionally, the youths should go for what motivates them personally and not be attracted to the financial stability that comes with that chosen career path.
Some critics, such as Albert (12), discuss various aspects of money, such as how society defines it and its influence on people’s self-esteem. Going by the say, money talks or the real thing in life are free. This generation has overlooked the old saying that real things are free and embraces the ideology that the best things are bought (Olson, Deborah & Kenneth 17). Many people today have been found to have placed a lot of value on money and, more so, allowing money to define who they are as well as their self-worth. Today, money is being used as therapy, especially when one feels depressed, which should not be the case. People should find themselves working on their self-worth and appreciating the gifts that they have freely. These gifts include good health, friends as well, and loving family, among many others. Further, Albert (14) posits that if we allow money to control every aspect of our lives, we are enslaved by it and do not even experience any real results. However, the author has challenged us that if we work on ourselves and construct a robust foundation through which we view ourselves, then we can be able to direct this energy to be useful to us so much that it will enhance the money that we have allowed to define ourselves. It is indisputable that money can influence comfortable lives with respect to luxuries; however, it does not have the power to control how happy an individual is in appreciation and acceptance of oneself.
It is important to note that money can influence individuals’ happiness but up to some particular point (Onderko 24). He argues that wealth can sometimes hinder an individual’s joy. We are therefore encouraged to appreciate whatever we own and maximize it to get our pleasure. The author asserts that hard work and perseverance are the only ways to achieve success, although not concentrating on making money and calling it a success. Wealth should remain a byproduct of our efforts but not the main place we should focus on. Success is said to be incremental, calculated, and righteous. Born into a time of over-scheduling and structural behavior, this generation believes that they are not likely to be on the fast track. They see the pathways to attaining life’s goals as more of a determined effort that starts with attending the right school, residing in the right place, getting the best job, and identifying the right values. This generation is responsible and free to achieve the success they desire. As opposed to the carefree and uninhibited generation, today’s generation wishes for a lot of freedom balanced with the sense of some responsibilities. For youths, attaining freedom does not involve taking risks; for them, the freedom of success is accompanied by a feeling of purpose and the authority of individuals’ opportunity to become everything they want (Albert 11). The youths today focus on growing their personal currency. They concentrate on making their mark in the world and working towards increasing their net worth and self-worth. For them, money is equated to the means and not the end. They are aware that financial securities bring opportunity.
On the argument that success impacts happiness, Patty (16) posits that psychology has depicted that money can bring happiness up to a certain point and forever. Patty (4), in his search, also found that a lot of wealth can even impede the capacity to appreciate the joys of life. Moreover, he stresses that people should make the most of what they possess and maximize that to achieve happiness and be successful. Materialistic orientation has a significant influence on youth. Financial education programs should be offered as preventive measures. It was established that most participants agreed that a better future is guaranteed with money. They said that money could buy happiness. Financial education attempts to enhance people’s awareness of economic issues and their capability to make wise monetary decisions (Manley, Peter & Jörn 43). These youths are expected to focus on social participation, understanding actual needs, and being responsible for the environment. Family and the entire community should support young people to succeed in the right manner. The youths should be told that money and success are gradual and that it may come from hard work. Most studies have revealed that youths go for many jobs to have financial stability. However, it has been found that the demands are so many that cannot be satisfied with the money we have. Youths consider having luxuries and the ability to afford everything they need to succeed. Other people consider taking manual jobs, including working in hotels, and double it with other duties to make ends meet. The low wages employers have given their employees have rendered many youths hopeless. They, therefore, seek to look for money by doing everything possible. Moreover, many people have felt depressed when they have failed to get the huge money that they have been looking for. They have associated money with success and, consequently, happiness.
Most youths today lack the patience to nurture their skills (Sonya et al. 14). For instance, when they get employment, they want to become managers immediately after being hired. Therefore, he urges youths to be equipped with the correct skills, excellent communication and collaboration skills, and professional conduct. Such youth should be exposed to career guidance and real workplaces (Kossowsky 29). Moreover, teens should be given mentors and role models with whom they can discuss different sensitive matters about career pathways, success, money, and the realities of the everyday work environment. For instance, Sonya and others (23) asserted that he has seen many young people leaving their first jobs because they are not paid enough money to enable them to buy everything they want. These youths believe that to have money; one is happy and productive. Youths are advised to pursue their career paths to realize what they want in life, and then money will follow. Many people have pursued their career paths for money reasons, but later, they realize that money alone is not enough to guarantee happiness.
Money does not equate to success. It is not always the case that the people who tend to earn more money are successful. It is, therefore, the success that gives us happiness. We should realize that money is an additional benefit that comes after our efforts. Successful individuals are productive and satisfied in their jobs (Sonya et al. 15). They are motivated and inspired to work to achieve success. However, those people who have followed money and not a career path have found it difficult to stick to their jobs. Additionally, money cannot buy happiness. This is because happiness comes from within. There are important gifts, such as a family, that money cannot buy. No matter how rich one is, one cannot be happy without a family.
Our health is one of the precious gifts that we should maintain and appreciate. Everyone desires to stay healthy. Money cannot buy health; it is something that we must work hard to keep. Also, everyone works very hard to achieve opportunities. Some of these opportunities help us grow and acquire skills and experience (Sonya et al. 15). We need to place our goals before money. This is because when we do not have goals, we lack purpose, and hence we will achieve no advancement t in life. We should always strive to set the goals we want to achieve. One of the goals we should set is to have strong relationships and friendships and interact with our communities. Therefore, our goals link us to success, not money.
In conclusion, this generation has perceived success in terms of having money and wealth. However, it has been argued that money cannot buy happiness, or if it buys, it will be short-lived. This generation is encouraged to embrace hard work and perseverance as the only way to achieve success which should not be confused with making money. Similarly, youths have been advised to follow the right career paths, which are self-motivated and not financially driven. Money cannot help one appreciate one’s self-worth and happiness. It should not be our point of focus. We should appreciate gifts such as family and friends, and our good health, among others. Money has been valued beyond life gifts. Many people have resorted to taking many jobs to get a lot of money to buy precious items like cars. When such people fail to get enough money then they feel depressed. We should, therefore, view money as a means to the end and not the end itself. Therefore, we should work hard to achieve success that is not associated with money. Money should be an additional payoff for our hard work. Most studies have revealed that money cannot buy happiness, nor can it buy health or family. To achieve success we should have our goals that will guide our purpose.
Works Cited
Albert Ellis, “Psychology of money” cicmoney101.org http://www.cicmoney.org/course-catalog/psychology-of-money
Kossowsky, Jenny. Coaches’ Subjective Definitions of Success and Failure and Their Season-long Evaluations of Competitive Events Through Attribution Theory. University of Wyoming, 2013.
Manley, Harry, Peter Dayan, and Jörn Diedrichsen. “When money is not enough: awareness, success, and variability in motor learning.” PloS one 9.1 (2014): e86580.
Olson, Deborah A., and Kenneth S. Shultz. “Employability and career success: The need for comprehensive definitions of career success.” Industrial and Organizational Psychology 6.1 (2013): 17-20.
Patty Onderko, “Can money buy happiness?” Success.com 2015.
Sonya B. Dumanis, Lauren Ullrich & Patrick A. Forcelli, “It’s Money! Real world grant experience through students”nih.gov 2013
Vickers, Montgomery. “How do you spell’success’? Some doctors measure success by money. Then again, some doctors can’t measure even if you hold the PD ruler for them.” Review of Optometry 149.11 (2012): 22-23.
