I would refine this a bit; happy people define their success through internal metrics. Don't let other decide what success means to you. Employers try to convi

I would refine this a bit; happy people define their success through internal metrics. Don't let other decide what success means to you. Employers try to convince you that your success is correlated with what they want to do, but it is not the case. They are paying you to do your job and that's all. Ads try to convince you that success depends on purchasing their stuff, but it is not the case. There is always more stuff to buy. In fact it might hinder your success if it puts you in debt or prevents you from becoming financially independent. Parents often try to convince you that success depends on the agenda they created for you. Fuck all of this. Success is what you decide it is. If you like to write software, work on becoming a better developer. The market being as it is, the workplace success is then a side-effect. Obviously all of this is a bit simplified but not being pushed around helps a lot for being happy I find.