What exactly is career success? If one does an internet search for the specific definition of career success, it turns up with no result, instead several articles of people attempting to enforce a societal norm. As a society, we have been taught and trained to value tangible things and perception where our careers are concerned. The tangible things we value are accomplishments. Accomplishments may seem intangible; however, upon further retrospect, it is not. We want to celebrate when one has completed a degree, bought a house, bought a new car, or boat. We even celebrate the success of people who have done nothing more than winning a numbers guessing game, also known as the lottery. We refer to them as successful. We feel as though they have achieved something great.
Something these items also have in common is their connection to finances. A large part of valuing perception is our value of prestige. If an item, university, or company appears to cost more or produce people who earn more, they automatically inherit value or prestige in our minds. This implied value leaves us equating success to monetary gain. Our society believes one is successful in their career if they earn a hyper large salary.
Nonetheless, this also leaves us in an interesting quandary. We often see this storyline in movies and on television. The rich person who can purchase anything their heart desires is miserable because they do not enjoy their careers. We are producing people who work hard to achieve our idea of career success, which is monetary gain. At the same time, we forget that we are still human beings in need of fulfillment in several areas of our livelihood to produce personal happiness. "Career success is a combination of achieving a reasonable level of financial stability while doing work you enjoy and then finding that you are also happy and fulfilled with your life and career choices as well." (Allen). It is a delicate balance.
People love art. We purchase paintings, commission portraits, hire interior designers, watch movies, play video games, and buy all sorts of lagniappe because it has cool artwork on it. We even invade the snazzy side of town where the artists tend to congregate, thereby forcing the area's real estate to skyrocket. We do all of this with a smile. We tell ourselves and our children not to pursue art, not realizing that our spending toward the consumption of art keeps the arts industries alive and functioning. It is an interesting dichotomy. In the interest of achieving financial success and steering clear of creative careers, we are funding the success of creative careers.
