What Is Success?
Success is often measured only by results — things like money or power. But it’s important to remember the “genetics” behind those results: how ethical and sustainable they are over, say, 30 years.
It’s hard to call someone truly successful — even a billionaire with enormous influence — if they can’t heal their cancer, and if their wealth never made the world better but instead sparked fights among their children after their death.
Wealth is only meaningful when it helps others. And success is the harmony of many different factors, not just the ones we usually highlight.
A picture of harmony
Imagine a daisy with many petals. Each petal represents an important area of human life:
- A personal sense of happiness and peace
- Health
- A lifestyle that doesn’t harm others
- Relationships with parents, family, and children
- Friendships
- Money
- How much help you give to others
If a daisy has two giant petals and all the rest are tiny, undeveloped ones — the flower looks distorted and unbalanced. The same is true for wealthy people who think only of themselves, cheat on their spouses, belittle others, and lie awake at night afraid of losing their “success.”
But when all the petals grow in harmony — even if none of them are huge — that is real success.
Keeping many balls in the air
The challenge of true success is exactly this: like a skilled juggler, you have to keep many balls in the air at once — not just two, even if they’re big.
On Instagram, we usually see only two carefully displayed petals. We overlook everything else — because our minds are wired to compare what’s visible.
But the moment we stop comparing and start developing all the important areas of our life — and take more joy in what we already have — that’s when we become truly successful.
Why Merit measures success differently
This is why Merit’s mission includes reshaping how society defines success — so it’s measured not just by money and power, but also by the good you bring into the world.
We chose this metric because it includes all the essential petals. After all, it’s hard to help others when your health is poor, when you’re unhappy, when you’re just trying to survive — or when all your attention is consumed by your own idea of “success.”
Merit is an app where kind people help each other — and earn real-life rewards for doing good deeds.
