20 / ENTREPRENEUR.COM / August 2019There’s no real formula (or benchmark) for success...
except the one you set for yourselfRedefining definitions
Aby Sam Thomas
Editor in Chief
@thisisaby
[email protected]EDITOR'S NOTE
I
n my role as Editor in Chief of
Entrepreneur Middle East, one
of the things I often get asked by
those who are venturing into (or
have just started working in) the
media industry is about what
advice I could give them that
would help them grow and succeed in
their careers in this particular sector.
I’ll admit here that I am always
conflicted about how I go about
answering this question- I mean, I
could make use of the almost staid
(but true, regardless) response that
delves into the importance of working
hard, having a strong work ethic,
and so on and so forth. But that
answer doesn’t take into account
the privileges I had in my life so far,
which can range from, for instance,
having supportive friends, family,
and mentors who pushed me (and
my dreams) ahead, to, well, the sheer
luck that I had in certain situations
that simply played to my advantage.
It is for this reason that I’m not
entirely comfortable with the
notion that there are these so-called
“recipes for success” for the world
of today- and yes, I do acknowledge
the irony here in that I almost alwaysask entrepreneurs I interview for
this publication to tell me their tips
and tricks to triumph in the startup
space. However, the way I see it is
that everyone has their own versions
of strategies and schemes that have
helped them get ahead, and yes, there
are definitely pointers and lessons
one can glean from them. However,
they should definitely not be seen
as a cookie-cutter formula that you
can just copy and paste into your
own lives and careers. After all, what
worked for me doesn’t necessarily
have to work for you, and, perhaps
more importantly, it’s important to
realize that all of us going through
life are actually just making it up as
we go along.
You see, regardless of the amount
of wins we may have under our belt,
or the years of experience that we
can boast of, it’s pretty safe to say
that none of that can be taken as a
definite confirmation of how things
could go in the future- and this needs
to be remembered when we’re being
subjected to advice from everyone
around us. I found validation for this
particular paradigm from a tweet by
Glitch CEO Anil Dash (@anildash
was declared one of Twitter’s best
accounts by Time magazine in 2013),
which said: “One of the weirdest
things about being a CEO is I end up
seeing a lot of media and advice aimed
toward entrepreneurs, or offering
tips on how to succeed in business,
and my overwhelming response to it
all is NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING!
Honestly. Almost all the advice is
overstated.”In the same thread, Dash went on to
say that all of us need to define our
own notions of success, and that we
should “reject any advice that's not
relevant to your context, consider
the source for any recommendations
that you read, evaluate people's
thoughts and ideas through the lens
of their actual impact on the world,
[and] engage with systems on your
own terms.” I agree with all of these
pointers, and while it has taken a
good while for me to come to this
kind of understanding (and truth be
told, I still slip up on this more often
that I care to admit), it certainly is in
line with what I tell those who come
to me for advice. While it’s always
good to follow in the footsteps of your
role models, do not limit yourself to
them, or judge yourself harshly if you
find yourself falling short of what
they do- it’s more important that you
find your own path, figure out things
that work for you, and march to the
beat of your own drum. At the end of
it all, you should be the one defining
what success means to you- not
anyone else.