Younger Workers Redefine Meaning of Career Success --- Flashy titles and salaries are no longer the gold standard for defining achievement

 

 

“Younger adults are redefining success and shifting their focus from wealth to health.

 

It's not that young people don't care about money, but they don't necessarily care about getting rich. Or status either.

 

While in college, Cole Smith, 27 years old, aspired to be someone at the top of the data-analytics field, even if it meant working 80 hours a week. Now, he's not sure it's worth it.

 

"I worried about being 40 or 50 and not having any interests outside of work," says Smith, who with his older brother co-founded Visor, an online car-shopping site. Smith, who loves to run and spend time with his fiancee, says his priorities have shifted and success is about having a more "holistic" life.

 

Wealth, status and occupation are no longer the gold standard when it comes to defining success for adults who have yet to reach middle age. Instead, young Americans rank physical and mental health as the top measure of success. Wealth came in fifth, according to a recent survey of adults ages 18 to 34.

 

This represents a generational shift, says Marcie Merriman, managing director of global cultural insights at Ernst & Young, who co-wrote a study about adulthood.

 

Those surveyed grew up with the internet and social media and have more access to information and lifestyles than previous generations. They scroll through feeds, listen to podcasts and watch videos to see how other people are succeeding or failing before they reach middle age, typically defined as ages 40 to 60.

 

Giving priority to physical and mental health reflects what they have learned and experienced.

 

Covid reminded millennials and Gen Z adults of the fleeting nature of good health and spurred a work-from-home movement. This opened their eyes to other, less stressful options and measures of success, says Zak Dychtwald, 35, who researches global generational shifts and cross-geography collaboration and is co-author of the study.

 

This particular age group of younger American adults is also watching parents and grandparents age and deal with chronic illnesses often tied to poor diet and physical inactivity.

 

"Health is a success in and of itself," says Dychtwald, who says there are still plenty of people his age who want to be at the top of law firms and investment banks and see that as success.

 

Some people found status and wealth early in their career, but not satisfaction or joy.

 

When she was in her early 20s, Natalie Armendariz researched high-paying jobs such as anesthesiologist but followed her desire to work in the creative field, landing an internship at an advertising agency. Her goal: creative director.

 

She and her now-husband, also in design, moved to New York, where she followed industry advice of switching from one agency to another and getting promotions. Longer hours and salary increases came with each.

 

She had high-profile clients, which made her feel that she was a success. But the achievement felt hollow; she was exhausted.

 

"There was no time to enjoy anything. It was work, work, work," she says. Finally, the couple returned to their Texas roots and started Funsize, a small digital design agency with 19 employees.

 

They now have a 6-year-old and close their agency for a week every quarter to regroup and reset.

 

"Success is quieter. It's not flashy titles and salaries," says Armendariz, 40. "It's how I feel about the things I am doing, how much time I have to spend with my family."

 

Defining success often involves asking and answering tough questions. Rachel Beck thought success meant getting married and leaving her hometown of Dubois, Ind., pop. 400, which she did in her 20s.

 

She and her then-husband moved to New York City, where she worked in public schools as an educator and counselor. When her marriage ended, Beck bought an apartment in Manhattan -- the epitome of success in her eyes -- and started traveling the world running marathons.

 

Then the pandemic hit. Her friends moved. Her position was eliminated. An injury ended her marathons. "I thought, 'Why am I still here?'" Returning home, she realized, would feel and look like failure. But when her parents began having health problems, she knew it was more important to be with them.

 

"My definition of success slowly changed," says Beck, now 45. It's more personal, she says, and less about others' expectations and meeting traditional milestones like getting married and having kids.

 

She deals blackjack at a resort and works part time at a local distillery run by a young distiller passionate about his craft. She started a podcast called The Feisty Heroine for women who are happily single. She has connected with women around the world and is traveling to Albania this fall to visit one.

 

Beck is glad she made the move, even though her hometown, while lovely and peaceful, is small and homogenous. She misses New York's food scene. She still has her Manhattan apartment, which she rents out.

 

A big advantage that millennials and Gen Z adults have in being socially connected and informed, is that they can draw lessons from older adults at an earlier stage. "Social media has transmitted life lessons that boomers learned at the end of their careers about what matters," says Dychtwald.

 

Warren Devarennes, 37, remembers watching an online interview with a CEO who said success is when your children want to spend time with you when they're adults.

 

The message struck the young father of three, sales account executive and co-founder of Dadgood, a private community for dads, who had expected the CEO to talk about lofty sales and earnings.

 

Instead of being monetarily rich, which he once desired, Devarennes wants to be a good dad and have enough money to feel secure and take his family to the beach for a week.

 

For him, physical and mental health comes first among five measures of success, followed by relationships with spouse, relationship with family and personal growth. Wealth comes last, but will naturally follow, he believes.

 

"Even if it doesn't," Devarennes says, "it still sounds like a pretty fulfilling life."” [1]

 

1. Turning Poings: Younger Workers Redefine Meaning of Career Success --- Flashy titles and salaries are no longer the gold standard for defining achievement. Ansberry, Clare.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 30 June 2025: A11.