The (True) Definition Of Success

Nugget from Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Hey Friend!

Today I picked a nugget from Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Commencement Speech at the American University of Beirut (2016).

It conveys a clear definition of true success, and debunks things that look like success but in reality it’s fragile / fake success.

👤 Author

💡Nugget

✦ Nassim Nicholas Taleb:

There's a single definition of success: Look at yourself in the mirror—in the evening—and wonder if you disappointed the person you were at 18, right before people get corrupted by life. Let him or her be the only judge [of your success].

Not your reputation. Not your wealth. Not your standing in a community. Not the decorations on your lapel.

If you do not feel ashamed, then you are successful. All other definitions of success are fragile modern constructions.

"Nietzsche's Master-Slave morality in modern terms: Reputation is for slaves. Honor, Courage, & Integrity is for the Self-Owned." 

- Nassim Taleb

Success requires absence of fragility. I've seen billionaires terrified of journalists. Wealthy people who felt crushed because their brother-in-law got very rich. Academics with Nobel who were scared of comments on the web. The higher you go, the worse the fall—for almost all people I’ve met external (not internal) success came with an increase in fragility and heightened state of insecurity.

Self-respect, on the other hand, is robust. That's the approach of the Stoic School. So, I've seen robust people in my village Amioun who were proud of being local citizens, liked by the community. They wake up happy, and go to bed happy. Or russian mathematicians, who during the difficult post-soviet period were proud of making 200 dollars a month, and did work that was appreciated by 20 people, and considered that showing one’s decorations or accepting awards was a sign of weakness and a lack of confidence in one's own contribution.

And believe it or not, some wealthy people are robust. But you just don't hear about them because they're not socialized.

"Receive [wealth or prosperity] without arrogance; and be ready to let it go."

- Marcus Aurelius

The best way for me to know whether I'm being driven internally or externally it's the famous quote from Warren Buffet:

“Would you rather be the world’s greatest lover, but have everyone think you’re the world’s worst lover? 
Or would you rather be the world’s worst lover but have everyone think you’re the world’s greatest lover?”

💥 Stuff I Loved

(Highlight revisited with 👉 Readwise)

Jeff Bezos, at a time when he was just getting AWS off the ground, is asked: “What do you think of Google App Engine” [competitor of AWS]. I strongly resonated with Jeff’s reply.

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Wishing you a 💥 happy new year!!

Julio xx

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