Success Is Not a Ladder

That dirty, mundane job may just make you happier.

If you are an internet user — and who isn’t? — you have surely seen the videos online. Somebody is walking with great determination back and forth across a stage, a little microphone dangling from their ear. They have a remote control in one hand to change the images on a huge projection screen behind them. They smile a lot, showing off their perfect, gleaming-white teeth.

The person is talking about success, how to plan for it and how to achieve it. It doesn’t matter what form of success it is. It could be patenting your invention, losing weight, selling real estate or getting along with your spouse. The format is much the same.

Some of these motivational speakers earn really big bucks making the rounds at hotel ballrooms and football stadiums. Their bodies are buff. They wear designer clothes. They loop that little microphone around their ear and don’t simply walk out there. They bound onto the stage to thunderous applause. Then, these sultans of...