Forums | Keynote 2 Tuesday evening 8KEc

27 March 2018, 12:20

For homework, you've watched Alain de Botton's TED Talk, A kinder, gentler philosophy of success. His idea worth spreading is that some of our most modern ideals - like equality, or success based on hard work and talent - can actually have harmful effects on how we view the successes and failures of ourselves and others. 

What's your personal definition of success? Give examples. 

How do your personal views compare with de Botton's? Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons. 

Then reply to another student. 

27 March 2018, 15:40

My personal definition of success is to reach goals which I set before.

So if we take the life of a person which suffers a depression, success is to get out of bed in the morning. 

27 March 2018, 16:14

Since I grew up in a rather low income family, success for us was always closely linked to money matters. "Grow up and study/work hard to be more wealthy than we are" was the subliminal slogan my parents passed on to my brothers and me. 

However, I feel that this leaves a whole lot of important aspects of a successful life out of the equation. As Alain de Bosson explains in an entertaining way in his video, this thinking fosters the snobish view on success. For me, another perspective (advocated for by the late author Stephen Covey) is about the importance of meaningful relationships in our lifes. He describes how good connections to friends, family, the society in general enable us to feel successful and in charge of our well-being. Money or physical goods, on the other hand, are (or at least should be) more of a tool than the goal itself. I like this point of view.