Hello, my dear listeners, and welcome back to the Kapil Gupta Career Pod Show. And today I want to ask you a question. Not a career question and not a salary question either. Not even where do you see yourself in five years interview question? A much more important question that what does success actually mean to you? Now think before you answer. Because most of us have been answering this question without ever being asked. Good marks means success, IT means success, a government job means success. Going abroad means success. A big salary means success. Buying a house means success. Getting married at the correct age means success. And then comes the luxury car, international holiday, and one LinkedIn photograph where you look serious while pretending somebody accidentally captured you thinking about strategy, success. Or is it something else? Hi, I'm Kapil Gupta, and my mission is to help people discover their true potential and create lives of purpose and fulfillment. As a human potential mentor, graphotherapist, founder of Study Abroad Academy, I've spent over two decades helping students, parents, and professionals gain clarity, confidence, and direction. Because the future doesn't change when you choose a different career. It changes when you become a better version of yourself. So let me tell you about two friends, Arjun and Samir. Now they studied together. Arjun got into famous company. Excellent salary, great title. His LinkedIn looked like success had personally adopted him. Samir chose teaching. His salary was much lower. He worked with students in a smaller city and loved what he was doing. At a school reunion, everyone surrounded Arjun. Bro, package kitna hai. Which car? Next promotion. Nobody asked Samir many questions. Five years later, the picture became interesting. Arjun was earning far more, but sleeping badly, constantly traveling, and seriously thinking about leaving his job. Samir was not financially rich, but he felt useful. His former students kept calling him for guidance. He had time for his parents, enjoyed his work, and was slowly building a learning center. Now tell me, who was successful? The answer is not Arjun, and the answer is not Sameer. The real answer is it depends on what success means to them. And that is where today's conversation begins. Redefining success beyond money and faith. See, please do not misunderstand me. Money matters. Anyone who says money is not important should try paying the electricity bill with positive energy. Financial stability matters. A good income gives freedom, security, and choices. And there is nothing wrong with wanting a strong salary. The problem begins when money becomes the only measurement. Imagine earning rupees 50 lakhs a year in a career you hate. Is that success? Maybe for someone, yes. And for another person, no. And imagine being famous but being unable to trust the people around you. Is that success? Imagine having a prestigious job but no time for your health, partner, children, or parents. What exactly did you win? We often confuse visible success with meaningful success. Visible success photographs beautifully. Meaningful success sometimes does not. So look at professionals and social entrepreneurs who have built careers around impact. Take the example of Celco in India. The organization built a commercially viable model around providing decentralized renewable energy solutions to underserved communities. It reports that its work has impacted more than 10 million people. Now that is business, but it's also contribution. Its co-founder, Harish Hande, did not have to choose between earning and meaning. The organization demonstrates that commercial work can also solve human problems. And that is the first shift I want you to make. Stop asking only how much can I earn. Also ask, what kind of life will this career allow me to build? Money is one part of success, meaning is another, freedom may be another, impact may be another, and peace may be another. See, success is personal. Success is growth, not a destination. And now let us destroy another myth. We often imagine success as a destination. Once I clear J, I'll be successful. Once I get it to I am, I'll be once I clear UPSU, or once I move abroad, or once I get promoted, and then you arrive. For approximately 14 minutes, you feel wonderful, and then your brain creates a new target. So welcome to being human. The World Economic Forum says that about 39% of workers' existing skills may change or become outdated by 2030. Think about what that means. Even after you get the degree, the job, and the title, you will not still need to learn. Your career is not an exam where somebody finally says, congratulations, learning completed. Please relax for the next 40 years. Success today is not arriving, it's adapting. Imagine Mira preparing for UPSC. Her first attempt fails. If her definition of success is only I yes or nothing, she sees the entire year is wasted. But suppose she asks better questions. Did I become more disciplined? Did I improve my writing? Did I understand public policy? Did I learn how I behave under pressure? Or did I discover whether I truly want this career? And now the year contains information. Maybe she tries again and maybe she discovers policy research. Or maybe she enters development consulting and maybe she realizes that the qualities she admired in civil services can be expressed through another career. So success is not always getting the first destination you wrote in class 10. Sometimes success is becoming wise enough to change the destination. Remember this. Success is progress, not perfection. Did you become more capable than last year? More self-aware, more skilled, more courageous, more responsible? That is success too. See, now comes the part hustle culture does not enjoy discussing. What is the value of professional success if your personal life is collapsing? Imagine an IITJ aspirant studying 14 hours every day, no exercise, poor sleep, no friends, every meal comes with Marx discussion. The student begins believing that rest is laziness, and then concentration falls, irritability increases, confidence disappears. The solution? Obviously, study 16 hours. No, that is not discipline. That is bad system design. True success is holistic. It includes career, but it also includes health, relationships, and mental well-being. WHO estimates that one in seven young people aged 10 to 19 experiences a mental health condition. That should make us think seriously about what kind of success we are asking young people to chase. A rank without health is expensive. A salary without peace is expensive. A promotion that destroys every meaningful relationship may be costing more than it weighs. The famous Harvard study of adult development has followed lives for decades. And one of the strongest lessons is surprisingly simple. Good relationships matter deeply to happiness and health, not LinkedIn connections, real relationships. The people you can call without preparing an agenda. So please build your career. Work hard. Prepare seriously. Be ambitious, but eat properly. Sleep. Move your body. Call your parents. Meet your friends. Laugh. But take Sunday afternoons seriously sometimes. See, balance is not laziness. Balance is sustainability. You do not want only a successful career. You want enough life left to enjoy it. See, success becomes bigger when it helps others. And this is another stage of success that we often discover later. Contribution. At first, ambition is naturally about us. My marks, my college, my job, my salary, my house. Nothing wrong with that. But eventually, a powerful question appears. Who becomes better because I succeeded? Maybe you become a teacher and help students discover confidence. Or maybe you build a business that creates jobs. And maybe you mentor someone younger. And maybe you become an engineer and build safer systems. And maybe your startup solves problems related to energy, healthcare, education, or financial access. And maybe you volunteer two hours every month. Contribution does not require becoming Mother Teresa immediately after graduation. It begins small. Look again at Cellco. Its work connects clean energy with livelihoods, healthcare, education, and underserved communities. The business question is not simply can solar technology work? It is also can this technology improve somebody's life? And that is powerful. Success becomes deeper when your growth creates growth around you. You do not have to become a social entrepreneur. A doctor contributes, a good manager contributes, a researcher contributes, a responsible business owner contributes, a career counselor contributes. Even a senior employee who patiently mentors a fresher contributes. Success multiplies when it stops ending with you. Ask yourself, if I become successful, what becomes better because I was here? And that is a beautiful career question. Define your own metrics of success. Yes. So we come to the most important part. You need your own definition. Because if you do not define success, society will happily do it for you. And society has a very limited menu. Salary, status, property, marriage, designation, repeat. So tonight, take a notebook at the top of the page, write success for me means and complete this sentence. And please do not write what sounds impressive. Write what feels true, yes, from your heart. Maybe success means financial freedom. Wonderful. Maybe it means earning enough while having time for your family. Maybe creativity matters. Maybe stability matters because you grew up with financial uncertainty. And maybe you want international exposure, and maybe you want to build something of your own, and maybe you want freedom of your time, and maybe you want to solve a problem that deeply matters to you. And there is no correct answer. But there must be your answer, and then divide your success into five areas. Yes, five. You do not need perfect scores in all five. Life does not work like a school report card, but look at the picture. If career is 10 out of 10 and everything else is two, ask yourself whether that is the success you actually want. You can also create a simple vision for the next five years. Do not only write, I want to become a manager, write, I want meaningful work, financial stability, good health, strong relationships, and enough control over my time to enjoy life. And that is a much richer vision. Your job title may change. Your values can guide the changes. So let us return to Arjun and Samir. Years later, Arjun eventually changed roles. He took a small financial step backwards to move into work he enjoyed more. His salary initially reduced, but his happiness increased. Samir expanded his learning center and began earning more too. Interesting, isn't it? Their stories did not end with money versus passion. Real life is really that simple. Both kept evolving, and perhaps that is the real meaning of success. Not one perfect destination, but a life in which your work, your values, health, relationships, and contribution slowly begin moving in the same direction. Success is not about having everything, it's about knowing what is enough for you. So stop borrowing somebody else's scoreboard. Your cousin's success does not have to become your target. Your classmate's salary does not define your worth. Your neighbor's child is not your career counselor. And Instagram definitely does not get voting rights in your life decisions. Ask yourself, what does success actually mean to me? And then have the courage to build that version. And here's your challenge. Tonight, take 10 quiet minutes. No phone, no comparison, no family opinions, and complete the sentence. If nobody was watching me, I would define a successful life as yes, complete it. Keep writing for one page. Then identify one change you can make this week to move closer to that life. Maybe you need to learn a skill. Maybe you need to reduce comparison. Maybe you need to speak with your parents. And maybe you need to rethink a career. And maybe you need to start taking your health seriously. One honest action, and that is enough to begin. And now let me speak directly to the student, career aspirant, or parent listening to this episode. Sometimes the biggest career confusion comes because we are chasing success without first defining it. So through my career counseling program, I help students understand their strengths, interests, aptitude, personality, values, and future possibilities. Because I do not want a student to simply choose a career that looks successful. I want them to build a career in which they can actually feel successful. So if you're confused about your subjects, careers, course, college, study abroad path, connect with me. Let us stop asking only which career has the most scope. Let us also ask which future has the most meaning for you. Your dream career was never lost, it was simply unread. So let us decode it together. So this is Kapil Gupta and listening to the Kapil Gupta Kareem Part Show. Dream big, earn well, grow continuously, love deeply, contribute generously. But above all, remember success is not reaching the life everybody admires. Success is building the life you do not secretly want to escape from the bigger.