成功只能有一个定义—就是能够按照你自己选择的方式生活

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6. I disagree with the idea that the only definition of success is being able to spend your life in your own way. The writer has a narrow concept of success, but success in broad terms can mean the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted. The broad definition does not conflict with the writer's narrow definition, only more encompassing. In other words, we can view the writer's definition as a special case of success. But in broad terms, success does not need to be one lumped result at the end of a process. The process to a grand success can actually be broken down into a number of milestones with interim goals, the achievement of which can also be legitimately declared success at that point in time as to have achieved that interim something desired, planned, or attempted. Just look at the intellectual development of a human being. Learning and knowing how to say and write your name is already a success towards the next step such as getting enrolled in school. Getting your high school diploma, university degree and completing your first research project are all interim successes at important steps along the way. Even in achieving "success in life", to reach the stage where you are free to choose how you spend your time, you must have achieved many interim successes along the way.

 

But even in the writer's narrow definition of "success" (in life), that definition can be misleading. The writer places high value on the absolute freedom of individual choice to spend life or time any way he or she wants. Unfortunately, freedom of choice is always relative and not absolute. The writer has implicitly assumed that success (in life) means being able (having the resources like money and time) to support any lifestyle of choice. But because human beings are social animals and subject to social forces and restrictions, that freedom of choice is also relative and limited. There are also social manifestations expected of a successful individual, such as having achieved visible physical success, being a role model for younger people to emulate, not tampering with existing laws, and being patriotic, ethical and generous. Violating any of such qualities will undermine the individual's "objective" success, even though the individual may still feel good about his/her "subjective" success. When the objective and subjective components of success fail to reconcile, it may mean an emotional crisis for the "successful" individual. Cases in point may include the Wall Street wonder-boy convicted of insider trading, the President implicated or indicted in misdemeanors, the pop star found smuggling cocaine, or the Olympic champion caught using performance-booster drugs. These "successful" individuals may feel good about having the resources and choosing their own way of conducting their lives, but their "success" is "discolored" by objective forces that check and balance against their subjective freedom to spend their life the way they want to.

 

You can spend your life in your own way and make a total mess out of it, without ever smelling success in any sense. People who have chosen to use drugs and roam the streets have surrendered their economic well-being (their careers), their emotional well-being (their dignity), and their physical well-being (their health). How successful can that be? I shall therefore reject that narrow definition of success as put forward by the writer.