When I was in the shower last night I started thinking about success. To me, success isn’t necessarily measured by money. It’s about how well you do or how much you achieve in whatever you want to do in your life. Like being the best badminton player or a good artist. Sure money often does follow success but it is not equal to success.
Growing Up, My mum always told me that money and success changes you. So no matter how well things were going she constantly reminded me to stay humble.
I can understand why that is ever so important to my parents. In just my 5 years of doing business, I’ve seen businesses thrive and these same businesses go down. Nuffnang and ChurpChurp may be fast growing companies that recorded double and triple digit growth in the past 5 years in a row but economic cycles are such that all businesses will eventually face a downtime. So success is sometimes temporary or cyclical.
My Dad always said “be nice to all the people you meet on the way up, because these are the same people you will see on your way down”.
I have been guilty of this myself. There were times in the past where I did get carried away with my small achievements and it eventually led to this: one day my Dad shouted at me over the phone telling me to stay humble or I am nobody. I knew he was right. So I kept myself in check. Hence if I have humility today, that all comes from my parents.
I see it all around me. People whom I had known from before and gained success had suddenly grown arrogant. The signs are there. Constantly talking about their achievements, about how successful they were, how their success was due to how capable they were instead of help from other people. Some of them even aren’t that successful but portray themselves as very.
That is my biggest fear in life. That I will one day be carried away without people around me holding me back. What I always remind myself that, no matter how successful you are in business, career or studies… There will always be someone even more successful. Success is after all…relative.
Never take success for granted. Be thankful for it and remember why you were successful in whatever you did. All I have today isn’t because I am the smartest or the most capable. It’s because I’ve been lucky, and I’ve been surrounded by great people who helped me get to where I am today. And no matter where I get to in life, I know there will always be someone more successful.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space