The Tripod and the Meaning of Success

Was thinking of something I’d heard Walter Murch say on the RTN interview all day today. He doesn’t, but I’d call it the ‘tripod of success,’ which is essentially 3 things a person has to have to become successful: Luck, Talent (ability to do something), and Hard Work. Any of those three, paraphrasing Murch, can get you in but all three are required to find success. I personally think Luck is the weakest of the 3 since without the other two it’s got nothing. Talent and Hard Work will always give you ‘lucky’ breaks. Because you never stop trying.

I’ve often wondered what level of success would let me die a happy man. Money may be number one now since I don’t have much. Fame? Very, very attractive yet all the famous people swear it doesn’t do much for happiness. Happiness? Oh yes, at the end of the day I need to be happy. But what does it really take to keep me happy?

I can list a thousand things that can make me happy – that are unattainable at this moment. Yet, I don’t know if owning a yacht would really make me happy, or living in a mansion the size of Giants Stadium, or even flying on a private jet. Those things I assume will make me happy. But if I look at my daily life, right now, I notice the things that can make me happy are attainable without sodomizing my dreams. If I had to make that list it would seem pretty attainable:

1. A good cup of coffee in the morning makes me very happy.

2. Good night’s sleep.

3. Watching a movie in a theater.

4. Playing cricket.

5. Reading feeds.

6. Taking pictures. And having these Nashville moments frozen forever.

7. Reading the paper.

8. Going for a walk over Brooklyn Bridge or riding the Staten Island Ferry when it’s neither hot nor cold.

9. Hearing and talking to someone I love.

10. Touching, smelling, and kissing someone I love.

11. Hearing her speak, laugh, and being goofy.

12. Being goofy is something that makes me happy. Dividing my time being a grown up and childlike – that brings happiness too.

13. Going atop Empire State Building and marveling at the city below or lying on grass in Central Park looking up at the blue sky.

14. Getting every single public transportation right when you’ve stepped in the stop of station brings happiness I cannot compare with anything else. If you’ve lived in the city and had one of those mornings where all the closing doors have synched with your entrance, you know what I mean.

15. Hanging out a coffee place, reading, chatting, writing. Tell me that bit of time doesn’t make you happy.

16. Working on a computer that does not keep screwing with you is happiness. Esp. when you have high speed internet connection. Just how high of a speed does it really take to make you happy?

17. Being able to work on things I love makes me happy.

I could go on and on. If I’d made a million dollars a day tomorrow – would it really change the little things that make me happy? I can’t end this without sharing one more thing. Randomness makes life beautiful. Predictable makes life miserable. Life lessons can be learned from the most unlikely places.

How random? Flipping through the TV channels a few days ago, I stopped at “Run’s House” (VH1). Out of all the episodes this show has generated, I stop at the moment when Rev. Run tells his daughters, I paraphrase again, “Some of the best things that have happened to me happened from things I didn’t understand.”

Wow! If I’m allowed to ‘play’ with Murch’s “Tripod of success” theory, my ‘Luck’ in stumbling into the exact moment Rev. Run uttered those words encouraged my ‘Hard Work’ and ‘Talent’ that everything I understand about my future is just my present being naive.