“Have a Happy, Prosperous and Successful New Year 2015!” was something that many of us kept hearing and saying during the last days of 2014. But what do these pretty abstract concepts of happiness, prosperity and success actually mean to each one of us? Most likely pretty different things to different people. Still I imagine that most people on this planet associate only good and positive meanings with these concepts.

What happens in your mind when you hear the word success? Or prosperity? Or happiness? What is the mental image that is instantly being created in your brain then? For success, don’t we normally think of material benefits, accomplishment or a wealthy person with a fancy car, a gorgeous house and a huge bank account? For prosperity it is maybe good fortune, a flourishing or thriving condition (especially in financial respects) that first comes to our mind. But when we try to share our understanding of happiness, we most likely end up having a never-ending debate, because it is the most innermostly experienced one of these three concepts and therefore rather difficult to be defined.

Achievement means more to some people than to others. While some want to be successful at any price (and unfortunately sometimes at the expense of other people as well), others are contented by simply trying and giving their very best. The only way to make our achievements truly meaningful to ourselves is to have a personal definition of what success means to us and how we eventually measure it. If we only strive to succeed according to other people’s standards and expectations, it does not necessarily bring us a sense of personal accomplishment and might only leave us unhappy, unfulfilled and unsatisfied. We should always bear in mind that one of the most rewarding and motivating experiences we can have is when we work really hard and reach a goal that we have set for ourselves.

If somebody we know is successful at what he or she does, we will most certainly acknowledge that by congratulating them on their outstanding performance. At least this is what should happen, but there is the other side of the coin as well. Another person’s achievements may create envy in us and provoke us either to ignore their success or even worse to be mean and nasty to them. Normally this negative human reaction only gives a concrete proof that indeed the person considered successful has done something extremely well as the others have difficulties in accepting it.

I do not know for sure, so therefore I only keep wondering, whether or not these three concepts of happiness, prosperity and success are closely intertwined and thus one cannot exist without the others?! Or can each one of them perhaps be regarded as something individually self-standing allowing them to be achieved and enjoyed separately? Simply and shortly, to me personally success is a complex and multifaceted concept and it can be experienced in any area of life (professional, social, emotional, physical, …). In summary, I would describe prosperity as doing well in life in general, and happiness (=being well) involves both a short-term dimension of daily positive emotions as well as a more long-term global sense that life is worthwhile.

 

The other day a friend of mine was asking me what was my greatest achievement in 2014. I got a little puzzled and had difficulties in giving him an answer. Before I was able to make up my mind on anything, I wanted to know, which criteria should be applied to defining the eventual achievement and in which category it should be (e.g. intellectual, social, spiritual, physical, financial, professional, …). This made my friend somewhat annoyed and he responded in an irritated way that I should not create a problem out of his straight forward question. I should simply give him an answer. Hmm …

After a moment of pensiveness it was clear to me what my biggest achievement in 2014 was. It was something I was genuinely proud of, something that was the key to all the other achievements during the year. However, I also strongly felt that this was not my biggest achievement in life as that was (hopefully) yet to come. Should we not always look to achieve more tomorrow than we did today and strive to improve ourselves all the time? Should we not try to be as self-motivated and determined as possible, and in case of failing, learn from our mistakes and do it better the next time? Should we not show the world how dedicated we are at hitting our targets and that we always do our best to achieve what we set our mind on? These are good qualities to find in oneself and in other people as well, I was thinking, when my friend started getting anxious to hear my answer.

“So, do you have an achievement or maybe not?”, my friend was inquiring.
“I do indeed!”, I gladly responded.
“What is it then?”
“All the kilometres I have been jogging this year!”
“What? I do not get it. Could you clarify it a little?”
“As you know, I have always liked jogging. This year while on a sabbatical leave I have been more flexible in terms of organizing my daily schedule between doctoral studies, professional activities and free time. This has given me the opportunity to make sure that I can go jogging on a much more regular basis.”
“Exactly how many kilometres have you been jogging? Some hundreds?”
“All in all, these kilometres could be expressed in a number of times I have run from Helsinki in the south to the most northern point of Finland (a distance of 1000 km) or in a number of marathon races.”
“I do not recall you having participated in any marathon races this year.”
“I have not either. Expressing it as a number of marathon races is only a matter of calculation.”
“Now I want to hear the figures!!!”
“Slightly more than 2100 kilometres … twice from Helsinki to Utsjoki in the north of Finland or some 50 marathon races.”
“Wow! Not bad! Quite impressive! Well done!”

All the kilometres run have contributed to my physical and mental well-being in 2014. The hours spent on jogging have been a tremendous opportunity to reflect on my life and they have boosted my performance in other areas of life as well. Moreover, running is a good way (as all runners know) to get rid of any tension, aggression, frustration and irritation you may be feeling in your mind, body and soul. It is refreshing and purifying, it is something I have to admit being addicted to ;-)!

P.S. The photo (25 Dec 2014) shows the Observatory park in Helsinki from where I usually start my regular jogging round along the seaside.

Finders, keepers is an English adage with the premise that when something is abandoned or unowned, whoever finds it, can claim it. However, it can be of great difficulty to define when exactly something (of value) can be considered unowned or abandoned. Occasionally this uncertainty may even result in legal disputes or at least in ethical dilemmas, when people happen to hold a different understanding of who legally or morally has the right to keep or possess the item found.

In summer 2009, Swedish berry pickers found a bag containing money worth more than 10.000 euros (i.e. 100.000 Swedish kronor) in the woods (link to the Swedish newpaper). As I was fascinated by what had happened in Sweden, I decided to share the story over a coffee break with some of my international colleagues, with whom I was working at that time. Without first revealing what the Swedish berry pickers had actually decided to do with the money, I briefly described the circumstances of the particular case to find out what my colleagues would have done in the given situation had they been the “lucky” ones to find the money in the forest (N.B. the Swedish berry pickers informed the police about their discovery).

After the “tour de table” among us, the result was that some of us would have followed the principle of “finders, keepers”, whereas some others not. The conclusion we made was that regardless of the fact that it probably was stolen money initially, but as it was not stolen by any of us, those who wanted to keep it, could have done so without any major moral concerns. So, the well-known proverb Opportunity makes a thief  is suggesting that anybody would steal, given a chance to do so without being punished. The key here is that do what you do, but do not get caught.

However, we were fully aware that the Swedish berry pickers had been in the forest as a group instead of having been there individually when finding the “treasure”. This of course completely changes the situation in relation to decision making and brings the group dynamics and power relations into play (e.g. Forsyth, 2009). In our case, had we all been there together, we realized that those colleagues who were in favour of reporting the discovery to the police, would have been jeopardizing the attempt of the others to keep the “catch of the day”.

Impact of values and ethics on choice

So, when should we make an effort to find the rightful owner in case of found cash? There is a point, obviously, where the amount of found money becomes far too much that not turning it in to the police becomes an ethical issue. But how to define that critical point and whose judgement should be trusted or relied on? Do the social standards provide any ethical guidelines for this purpose? After all, isn’t it our values that influence how we people make choices? How does this relate to a multicultural reality in which people from all corners of the world come together and represent a different value base?

As we know, ethical standards, moral norms and values are obtained through the enculturation process and although they manifest themselves as pretty stable perceptions that shape and influence our behaviours, they are continuously being (re-)negotiated (e.g. Holliday, 2011). Also the fact that ethical standards and values vary across cultures and from one person to another, make us humans respond slightly differently to whatever is happening in our daily environment. Therefore, we may not forget the impact that our social constructs (such as values and ethics) have on our choice, for instance, on whether or not to commit a criminal act (e.g. a decision to keep a significant amount of found cash in our possession). (Henry, 2009)

Petrick and Quinn (1997) address ethical awareness as a capacity to be responsive to moral issues that call for consideration in making choices that will have a major impact on other people. Further, ethical awareness, as the authors continue, applies to the consequences of decisions and actions as well as the processes used to achieve them. Generally speaking, ethical standards are the norms of our social environment that are acceptable to and shared by the majority of people. Within a society, those who ignore to adhere to ethical standards and are found guilty of unethical behaviour will have to deal with sanctions dictated by legislation (Henry, 2009), or within an in-group corrective action is normally taken by the other members/peers to affect positive change in a misbehaving person’s conduct and to eliminate the cause of nonconformities to prevent recurrence (e.g. Johannesen & al. 2008). 

Finally, McClelland (2010) states that, regardless of our gender, culture, or age, there are three social needs that motivate us in an ethical decision-making situation: achievement, affiliation, and power. One of these will be our dominant motivating driver, which usually is largely dependent on our culture and life experiences. However, ethical decision-making involves finding a balance, yet it should discard bad choices in favour of good ones and always consider what is reasonable to be done in the given circumstances. Regardless of the individual driving force, the generally agreed mores and ethical rules that are accepted as good by the majority should be acknowledged and they should serve as a basis for taking collectively a decision ethically as correct as possible.

References

Forsyth, D. R. (2009). Group Dynamics. Fifth Edition. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning.
Henry, S. (2009). Social construction of crime. In J. Miller (Ed.). 21st Century criminology: A reference handbook. Thousand Oaks. SAGE Publications.
Holliday, A. (2011). Intercultural Communication and Ideology. Thousand Oaks. SAGE Publications.
Johannesen, R.L., Valde, K.S. & Whedbee, K.E. (2008). Ethics in Human Communication. Sixth edition. Waveland Press Inc., Long Grove, Illinois, USA.
McClelland, D.C. (2010, reprint of 1961). The Achieving Society. Martino Fine Books, USA.
Petrick, J. A. & Quinn, J. F. (1997). Management Ethics: Integrity at Work. Sage Series in Business Ethics, Thousand Oaks, CA.