NORTHERN PLANNER

According to Adam Smith, suddenly achieving blazing success can actually be the route to misery. Not is the praise from your peers less than sincere, as the green eyed monster takes hold, the established players in the elite you’ve just joined do not always welcome upstarts.

Now, this is of course true, envy is intrinsic to human nature, as is group think and snobbery (inverted or not). I think this comes down to how you meet your success. With humility, gratitude and never false modesty. There’s nothing worse than seeing someone change over night. You know who you are.

But then, you have to question the ones who have been left behind, or those in the higher echelons the person has joined.

Those left behind can let envy consume them, or they can be inspired into pushing themselves a little harder. Human societies have always had elites, some would argue that the cult of the celebrity enables us to dream of being as wealthy and glamorous as them. Watching Michael Phelps in the the pool makes me want to work on my freestyle.

And, of course, elites need to close ranks, otherwise there’s nothing special about them, but without the possibility that the lucky few can join in, the lower orders eventually rebel. From a sociological point of view, that’s why actors and rock stars are so potent for capitalism, in theory, anyone could do it. Talentless celebrities like Jordan and other reality stars are even more useful, you don’t even have ti be any good at anything.

And anyway, you should always welcome new additions to the tribe, the diversity will make you stronger.

So there you have it, success can be dangerous for all, but the bit I find interesting is the role of emotion within this. No emotion is bad, it’s how you use it. If you’re other half was never a little jealous when you flirted with someone, would you really feel loved? Without envy, would you ever be inspired to surprise yourself? Without fear of challengers, would you ever push yourself to stay ahead?