It’s in the spirit of leading your life to reach your goals that I shed light in to four kinds of ‘successful’ people in our society:

• the successful and yet humble,
• the lucky ones who think they’re successful because they deserve it
• the mediocre who find comfort in the little they have but while showing resentment against those who succeed where they failed, and
• the badge whores who enjoy living in the shadows of successful people.

The successful but humble

These are the very few people I know of that have ever expressed a desired goal, then did all they could until they finally achieved the goal. Such kind of achievers describe the journey to success and pride in their success with humility. And when you get a chance to interact and listen to them, you can’t help but grow a deep admiration and respect for them. Once you get to know them, you find out that there’s more to their story than just the big credentials they got. And what’s more important is that you feel inspired by their stories – their stories are proof that you can also make it in life.

The lucky ones but proud and arrogant

If you have read the book ‘Outliers’ by Malcolm Gladwell, you’ll agree with me that having a better life than others does not make them less human or less deserving than you. Your success in life is attributed not only to your ability but also the place you were born, the environment that shaped your development, major global events in your generation/era and an element of serendipity. Of course you’ll have had to work hard to be favoured by these circumstances and yet still luck had a bigger role in you becoming successful. You can only understand them for not understanding that their entitlements in life are an honor rather their human right.

The mediocre

These ones try things out and if one thing doesn’t work out as expected, they quickly shift goals and targets. They are so mediocre that if they don’t achieve their targets after several attempts, they’ll find a way to be comfortable with what they already have and then become critical of the things they could not achieve. These mediocre people will forge meaning around why having certain hopes and goals is a scam and they can make you hate people that have succeeded where they could not. They are good with words – they can tell you so many things as they attempt to help you in your journey. They could mean well in their advice but I would not encourage you to listen to someone who claims to know success in an area they have not succeeded.

The badge whores

They live under the shadows of successful people. For lack of a better word, I see them as badge whores – people who merely crave for identity and yet are incompetent or too lazy for the status they crave. These people have a Machiavellian pattern of behaviour – highly charismatic with people who can do them favours but very hostile and inhuman to those below them or those of no value to them. They’re very close to truly successful people but not actually successful. They find pride in being associated with big names and big places and that’s why they find comfort in living under the shadows of the successful. They love to brag and if you give them enough attention, you’ll believe that they’re actually successful based on the image they show.

One sad thing about associating with those who pretend to be important is that they indirectly massage their ego by making you feel horrible about yourself. (Their motivation for associating with you is to impose their sense of self importance)

Wrap up

Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens his friend’s face.

Proverbs 27:17 (LITV)

You may have one of the four character traits I’ve described above, or you may be associating with a blend of the characters above. Whichever the case, are you leading your life to reach your goals? Are you living deliberately?

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

Robert Kiyosaki

Goals do vary from person to person. Regardless of how small or big your goal may be, judging by the people you associate with, are you going to be successful and humble, successful but out of luck, mediocre or a badge whore?

Lead your life to reach your goals; live deliberately.

https://goalslifestyle.com

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