by Xypher Pino

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, LeBron James, Lionel Messi, Beyonce and Drake – these are some of the people whom I consider as living outliers. Living outliers are individuals who dreamt of the impossible and beat all the odds, earning their place in the top one percent of the top one percent. The lavish lifestyles and popularity these individuals have are certainly attractive, resulting in society idolizing these individuals. It appears that in today’s world, everything that each person does is based around the achievements of living outliers – society’s expectations and values are unfortunately shaped around the few individuals who have reached the top of the mountain. This creates a major problem: people end up becoming obsessed with material wealth or fame and correlate success with these factors, failing to recognize that success truly stems from one’s passion for one’s craft.

Success is the attainment of wealth, favor or eminence, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary at least. This definition is absurd; extrinsic factors should not be what constitute success. Unfortunately, this is how our society has formed its values and beliefs regarding success. I attribute the creation of this improper definition to the materialistic mindset that dominates today’s world – too many people are placing too high of a priority on making money, having many possessions and creating a perfect image to the point that it consumes their lives. How did this even happen in the first place? Why has society deemed material objects and fame to be the primary measures for success? Disillusioned ideals regarding success have resulted in the loss of individualism and true intrinsic worth, prompting us to reevaluate what success should mean.

One of the key culprits contributing to this unhealthy comparison and misguided definition of success is social media. Living outliers dominate social media platforms – everything that they do and own is constantly being showcased everywhere. You can never go for a day of scrolling on social media without hearing about the newly published mansion tour video of a celebrity, or seeing where your favorite influencer went on vacation recently. The constant exposure that we have with the possessions and experiences of living outliers only worsens society’s materialistic mindset. Social media has distorted our understanding of success and has made one’s wealth the single determining factor of what defines a successful person. This has resulted in society immediately looking down upon those whose incomes are on the lower-end – teachers, social workers, cops; these careers are crucial in keeping society up and running, yet everyone shies away from these careers just because of the pay. There is a major loss of passion throughout society – everyone is so focused on wealth and fame, the end goals, that we forget about the importance of personal growth and fulfillment; we forget about our passions.

When we compare ourselves to living outliers, we are almost always blindsided by the wealth and fame that comes with the lifestyle. We end up dreaming about the wealth and fame of being a living outlier, often forgetting about the journey that these individuals went through to get to this point of success – all of the failures, the numerous sacrifices and the thousands of hours putting in work are all forgotten. Society has underestimated the effort and perseverance required to reach the levels of living outliers. As a result, many unrealistic goals are created, and people have failed to fall in love with the journey. There has been a heavy loss of passion and intrinsic motivation because of society’s obsession with results. Success should not revolve around the result, the wealth, the fame; it should be based around finding out who you truly are and pursuing one’s true passion – embracing and absorbing the joy, growth and fulfillment that comes along with this journey.

As Paulo Coelho once said in “The Alchemist,” “It is the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” Success should be driven by the pursuit of one’s true calling, one’s passion, one’s personal legend. Success should be all about intrinsic fulfillment, not extrinsic rewards. It should never be measured by financial wealth or external recognition but by finding one’s niche in life and experiencing genuine happiness and contentment. Success lies within the journey itself – where individuals embrace their craft, find their purpose and tap into their fullest potential. Success is not the amount of money nor followers you have, it is all about finding your passion and embracing the journey.

By examining as to why society has correlated success with material wealth and fame, we are able to create a more authentic and meaningful definition of success. Let us break and defy society’s expectations by turning towards self-actualization and becoming our own living outliers.