If you were to pose the question "What is success?" to a roomful of people, a majority of people would people reply with a monetary-based answer. For some, it may be to own a nice car. For others, to come home to an expensive house. This is exactly where we have gotten lost in translation. Success cannot be measured by something as one-dimensional and finite as single number. Most of us thought we were all going to grow up to be millionaires. I took it one step forward and would tell my parents that I was going to have 3 vacation homes. Because just 1 would be "roughing it", right? I, for one, have had a change of heart since I was 13 years old. But for some that haven't quite reached that point yet, I hope their change in heart comes sooner, rather than later.

Some of the most rewarding careers pay the least rewarding salaries. Teachers and police offers, for instance, can receive the most personal gain in knowing that they have made a difference, but are continually suffering from pay-cuts. Too commonly, people make career decisions based on the amount of money they think will appear on their paycheck. Obviously, we all want well-paying jobs, but let me put this into perspective for you. You go on a date with someone and you find them extremely attractive. About 5 minutes in, you discover that they have the personality of an onion and you have nothing in common. But you disregard that, and decide to marry them anyways because they are just so attractive. Years down the road, you're going to wonder where you went wrong and why you and your onion-husband aren't working out like you thought you would. Huge paychecks look attractive, but don't marry a job you can't find a single thing in common with. That's like picking a cereal based on color, rather than taste.

I was once one of those people that got 87 steps ahead of them self. I thought I wanted to be a doctor for the big bucks (and even the novelty of it...thank you "Grey's Anatomy"). After my mom made me spend a summer volunteering at a hospital, I then found myself confronted with reality; I hated the thought of blood and bodily fluids, I am a complete germaphobe, and I actually loathe science. What a great doctor I'd be, right? "I'm sorry sir, I know you wanted me to perform this surgery, but scalpels scare me". I can see it now. I didn't find the profession appealing, I found the money appealing.

Now, I want to be an attorney. So, I'd say I made a complete 360 in the career-outlook department. If you asked my dad why I want to practice law, he'd answer that I enjoy arguing (I am not denying that). But beyond that, I have found an interest in social science, politics, ethics, and the law itself. Depending on who you are, you may have read that and thought "Wow, how incredibly boring". But stepping into a courtroom will be my version performing surgery for the first time. The best thing about it? No scalpels and bodily fluids involved (and it's a profession that I value and would do even if it paid a bottom-of-the-barell salary). The moment I decided I wanted to serve as a public defender, or study public policy, or even protect private citizens from corporations with too much power, is the moment that I realized money is not equivocal to success.

This can't be reiterated enough. Assuming people treat you with respect, a C.E.O. should be given the same amount of respect as the person working as a cashier at a fast-food restaurant. They are no different. One may just have a couple extra figures in their bank account, but that doesn't determine their character. We are taught to value the person with the expensive purse, to envy the person with the pricey car, and we assume that if you have expensive shoes, you must be respectable. There are 3 possibilities: This person is awful with their money. This person enjoys spending other people's money. Or, this person enjoys "things" more than experiences. Sure, we all do love having nice things and I fully agree that if you work hard, you should see the benefits. But I would much rather have experiences, such as traveling the world, meeting new people, and giving to others, over one really really expensive purse to qualify myself to be "worthy" of the attention of others.

The handbag industry epitomizes society as a whole. If you sold an expensive bag at Walmart, but did a placebo study and took the "Michael Kors" or "Tory Burch" logo off, people wouldn't want the identical bag like they would if they knew it was designer. I'm guilty of it too. But really, how naive are we? Once the bag has a designer logo on it, it becomes that much more appealing to us. If this is the same way that we perceive people, we are doomed. Money doesn't make you an expensive person. You can be a terrible human being, but have an admirable bank account. Once you learn this fact, not only does it become a million times easier to read people, but you learn who thinks money is an outward reflection of their successes. Being rich in thought is not, and never will be the same, as being rich in a financial sense.

My point is not that wealthy people are arrogant or oblivious to reality. In fact, many of them have worked incredibly hard and done well for them self, which I will always stand by. My point is that there are far more substantive aspects that constitute as being successful, rather than the most obvious one. They say "money talks", but sometimes, it talks too much.