In individualistic models of success, success is not due to the individual’s relationship with his external environment or his place in society, but rather a matter of individual achievement or, in some cases, a measure of his relationship with others. God. These models originally had their roots in Protestant Calvinism and are the typical ones you’ll see in “Success” books.

Examples discussed include

The Protestant Work Ethic Model

The American Success Model

new age model

protestant work ethic

According to Max Weber (1904, 1905), it was John Calvin who introduced theological doctrines that combined with those of Martin Luther to form a significant new attitude toward work. Calvin was a French theologian whose concept of predestination was revolutionary. At the center of Calvinist belief were the Elect, those people chosen by God to inherit eternal life. All other people were doomed and nothing could change that since God did not change. While it was impossible to know if a person was one of the Chosen, one could get an idea of ​​it based on their own personal encounters with God. Externally, the only evidence was in the person’s daily life and actions, and success in one’s worldly endeavors was a sign of possible inclusion as one of the Chosen. A person who was indifferent and idle was certainly one of the damned, but a person who was active, austere, and hardworking gave proof to himself and others that he was one of God’s chosen ones.

Calvin taught that all men should work, even the rich, because working was God’s will. It was the duty of men to serve as God’s instruments here on earth, to reshape the world in the manner of God’s Kingdom, and to become part of the ongoing process of its creation. Men were not to covet wealth, possessions, or the easy life, but were to reinvest the earnings from their labor in financing new ventures. Therefore, the profits had to be reinvested repeatedly, ad infinitum or until the end of time. Using the profits to help others rise from a subsistence level violated God’s will as people could only prove that they were among the Chosen through their own work.

Calvinists considered the selection of an occupation and its pursuit to achieve the greatest possible benefit as a religious duty. Not just condoning, but encouraging the pursuit of unlimited profit was a radical departure from the Christian beliefs of the Middle Ages. Furthermore, unlike Luther, Calvin saw fit to seek an occupation that would bring him the highest possible earnings. If it meant abandoning the family trade or profession, the change was not only permitted but was considered a religious duty.

The work standards that developed out of the Protestant Reformation, based on the combined theological teachings of Luther and Calvin, encouraged work in a chosen occupation with an attitude of service to God, viewed work as a calling, and avoided giving greater spiritual dignity to one. work than another, approved of working diligently for maximum profit, required reinvestment of earnings in one’s business, allowed a person to change his or her parent’s trade or profession, and associated success in one’s work with the probability to be one of God. electric

Success model of the “American dream”

The current model of entrepreneurial and professional motivation, the one most closely associated with the “American Dream,” which emphasizes individual achievement, competition, and dominance, has been around for at least the last 50 years.

Unlike the Calvinist work ethic on which it is based, the motivation to earn money is no longer to save for the future, but rather what Thornstein Veblen, the famous 19th-century economist, characterized as “conspicuous consumption.” Fancy homes, fancy cars, fancy electronics, and exotic vacations create the illusion of wealth. The philosophy of Amway Corporation, now known as Quixtel in the US, is a good example of the concepts involved. Amway Corporation is a direct selling organization that produces and markets products using a multi-level marketing (or MLM for short) system.

Multi-level marketing is a form of direct selling in which manufacturers license independent contractors to sell their products directly to consumers, bypassing middlemen and retail stores. Using the garage or an extra bedroom as a warehouse and a home office as a shopping center, a distributor makes a profit by buying wholesale from his company and selling to customers at retail prices. MLM is also a recruiting business. A distributor is allowed to enroll others to become part of his company’s distribution force, and is paid a commission on wholesale product purchases made by recruits. Both methods then provide consumers with new options to purchase the consumer items they want.

The motivator for work and the only measure of measured success is money and the goods that money can buy:

This is a business, and one of the main reasons people work in any business is to earn money that will not only help them pay their bills, but also help them accomplish other goals. Those can be short-term or long-term goals, and they can be big (like buying a new house) or small (like saving for a vacation).

A better standard of living is a common motivation and reward for people starting any type of business. Money, and what it can buy, is the universally recognizable indicator of success that distributors use to motivate and establish the credibility of their business.

http://www.amway.com/InfoCenter/questions/question20.asp” target=”_new”>http://www.amway.com/InfoCenter/questions/question20.asp

Another important aspect of this model of success is that one only has oneself to blame for one’s own success for failure. And yet, given the low success rate at Amway, “…data from a research report reveals that only 1,000 of more than 200,000 distributors ever reached the rank of Direct Distributor or higher,” it’s also pretty clear that the company does not offer success to anyone who enters the business [Bromley, 1995:151]. How is it possible that all these well-intentioned people are not successful?

The only ideologically accepted explanation is that these well-intentioned people had no commitment to “the dream.”

Amway is a performance-based business that rewards people in direct proportion to their effort. The bigger the financial goal, the more time and effort a distributor will need to put into their business. With an Amway business, a distributor can work as little or as much as they want. Rewards are directly based on the dealer’s achievements. (from Amway

The product is irrelevant. What counts is keeping the dream alive and resisting anything that might rob you of the American Dream. Because “the dream” is God’s blessing, divine will, the American way, family, morality, and the free enterprise system. .

Recently, the American hit model has taken a beating. Competition for business markets and jobs is tough. Faith in business has been eroded by corporate fraud scandals, mass layoffs and outsourcing. However, for now at least, it remains the predominant success model in America today.

New Age Views on Success

New Age philosophy got its name from the belief that we are on the threshold of a New Age. New Agers hold that the world is undergoing a paradigm shift, a time when accepted ways of thinking and acting are drastically changed due to new discoveries.

For example, the invention of writing and agriculture triggered paradigm shifts that led to a whole new way of life. According to New Agers, we are going through a paradigm shift through new discoveries in physics and psychology.

The critical (left) side of our brain limits our possibilities for creativity. Rather, the right side of our brain tells us that reality is what we do. We need to be more creative to live up to our possibilities. In fact, some New Agers believe that we are actually gods, possessing mysterious powers we don’t know we have, including the ability to transform reality to suit our wishes.

We have these abilities because there is already an underlying unity between our being and the universe. The discovery in nuclear physics that matter and energy are the same thing suggests that everything is made of the same energy. Therefore, we, as energetic beings, interact with the energy of our environment to create our own destinies.

The link between spirituality and money is evident in many New Age “self-help” books that combine techniques for psychological and spiritual well-being with techniques for financial success.8 According to New Age thinking, your spiritual and your financial health are closely related. . As a result, the idea that “reality is what you make of it” is often translated into “your economic reality is what you make of it.” Being open to new experiences and is accompanied by new risks and investments.

The New Age movement has adapted many of the same tools used by the Eastern tradition and Wicca that we have discussed: crystals, Tarot cards, meditation techniques, astrology, etc. However, they have developed two powerful motivational tools of their own: affirmations and visualizations.

Affirmations are positive affirmations. Just repeat them as you go about your daily routine. You don’t even have to consciously “listen” it, just play it in the background. Your subconscious mind listens and retains the spoken affirmations and thus begins to create a more prosperous mindset. Your mind will especially select personal problems and focus on them. Examples are:

• There is an unlimited supply and it is mine.
• I release my need for financial insecurity
• i am financially secure
• I am surrounded by loving and generous people.
• I release my need to feel needed
• I have everything I want or need
• I release my fear of wealth and well-being.
• I am healthy and rich
• I allow myself to prosper
• I trust that I will create abundance.
• I have more than I need in every area of ​​my life
• I open myself to receive the abundance of the Universe
• I release my need for debt
• I am solvent
• I am safe and secure
• I enjoy a constant flow of positive energy.
• I am loved, accepted, recognized and appreciated

Active and creative visualization focuses on daydreaming. You create in your mind’s eye a vision, a thought, and that thought has energy. As with dreams, your mind seems to work better with images. As such, visualizations, along with affirmations, are powerful creation tools.

Below is a sample visualization (http://www.catanna.com/moneyspl.htm)