Conversely, if happiness is the sole metric by which you measure your success, unhappiness becomes a personal failure. Happiness is elusive and difficult to define, so I measure my success by my level of engagement in my work, and the value it creates for others (that last part is critical). If I'm excited about what I'm doing, and I'm doing it for any reason besides the paycheck, I consider myself successful.

Thank you. This always bothers me in discussions about success. It seems that everyone equates it to being rich.

For many of us, it simply means having the bills paid and being able to do work we love, on our terms.

> For many of us, it simply means having the bills paid and being able to do work we love, on our terms.

But not for all of us, and that was the whole point of the essay. He never says you have to buy into his definition of success, and he doesn't seem to begrudge the people in his Japanese suburban diorama their definition of happiness. In fact he's a bit wistful that it's not his definition.