What is success to us anyway? we have got just one life and we ‘probably’ want to make a difference or make a remarkable difference. For most of us, success is becoming a rich and famous person and making an impact on society. Is that it? Yes, pretty much. Moreover, each individual has its own personal definition of success.

Somewhere down the line, in the path of growing and becoming like the ’grown-ups’, most of us forget to think what success means anyway. In the never-ending race of hustling and spending 9–5 in a cubicle of some multinational company, or working from home; we have forgotten that the more you run towards success, the harder it takes to get there.

In a gist, all we need to do is- think of success as a side-effect of personal development. Focus on the latter and the former will come to us naturally.

Why do we chase success?

It is mandatory to figure out why do we all run after success. Most of us run for obvious reasons while others run because of societal pressure. Whatever the reason might be, we look for some of the below-mentioned incentives that come along with success.

Happiness

Being successful makes everyone happy. After all, who isn’t happy after becoming a person everyone wants to be. But at the end of the day, when we lay in our bed- we're happy. Happy for achieving the set goal or happy for accidentally landing to a place you never thought you’d ever be.

Thick fat bank balance

Money is synonymous with every luxury these days. Having a secured and more than enough bank balance is the dream of every Millennial and Gen Z. All those watches, luxury hotels, or even the world tour is all ours if you have money.

Recognition

Believe it or not, people crave recognition and there isn't a reason why not to. After all, we are the so-called social animals. We want to be well known in the tribe.

How is success a side effect?

A side-effect is when we do something else and get the other thing as a result of the former thing. Aforementioned, success is a side effect of personal development. Let us understand it to its depth.

Personal development is a mandatory and primary step in paving the way for success. Without growing up and developing with time, success becomes hypothetical. The two go hand in hand and they are inseparable.

One of the greatest psychiatrists of all time Dr. Victor Frankl himself mentioned in his book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ the meaning of success is a simple sentence- “for success like happiness, can’t be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it”.

Do what you love and be consistent in anything that you do. This is, in essence, the real meaning of personal development. When we strive to improve for ourselves, we open the doors to incessant knowledge, and this knowledge is like the oars to the boat of life. Eventually, it will lead you to a place you call ‘success’.

Remember, personal development is primary and success is its side effect.