Robert Ashton philosophises over the greatest question of all.
Last week my accountant sent me my accounts for the last year. The covering email asked when I was going to stop messing around with this 'social enterprise thing' and start earning real money. You see that whilst I earn more than enough to maintain a very comfortable lifestyle, in my accountant's eyes, I'm falling short of success.
He's a great guy, but has very different life interests to me. For one thing he plays golf, something I could not imagine ever having time for, let alone the inclination. That's not to say I'm anti-golf; it's just that I can think of a thousand other things I'd rather do on a Saturday morning.
And so to life, work and profitability. For my accountant it's no surprise that financial performance is the overriding measure of success. The more money you make the more successful you are. But then he is an accountant so would obviously think like that.
Contrast this with the BBC's Andrew Marr, who I heard speak the other evening. He says that the only way to enjoy a contented life is to engage with society and be part of the debate. He argues that to simply work, eat, play and sleep is not enough. But then he earns half a million pounds a year, so perhaps idealism comes easy!
Back to my life. I spend my time doing stuff I enjoy, pushing barriers and changing the way people see and interact with their world. I help people and organisations liberate themselves from tradition, funder-dependency or heavy-handed political control. I solve problems, nurture social entrepreneurship and support people as they create social enterprises. The work can pay well, but also demands I spend a lot of time exploring, thinking, learning and as right now, writing.
And so I earn less than if I worked in a corporate world, boosting brand performance or training corporate clones to become more persuasive sales people. I also know that maintaining good mental health is important. I've spent years wrestling with depression and right now my head is in a better place than it has been for a decade.
So perhaps we all need to start measuring success differently. Perhaps once you are making enough to do the things you want, earning more is less important than feeling motivated, fulfilled and passionate about the positive impact you are having on the world.
Am I naive? I don't think so. One day even accountants will discover that self-sufficiency and satisfaction are more important than material wealth. What say you?
