I’ve written on success several times before. One thing that I have tried to teach is that it is so important to define success on your own terms. Your success will not be your buddy’s success. Some of us want expensive toys, others want to travel, others want to do what they love and the rest doesn’t matter.
There is no right answer. For example, I am in law school because I want to help you, the creative community, more. Some of my colleagues are in law school to make lots of money. Others want to defend the defenseless. Others are trying to earn their parents’ approval. Lots of definitions of success for people who are sharing the same path.
But, having said that, we all flip out occasionally–worrying about our careers and whether or not we can be successful. On that point, today I ran across a great Ted talk by Alain de Botton. In places, this talk is hilarious (sometimes very subtly so), but the points are helpful, sincere, and worth thinking about.