The School of Life

What is 'prosperity'?

The School of Life

Summary

Marketers are increasingly voicing concerns over the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns, particularly when metrics like impressions do not translate into tangible revenue. This phenomenon, referred to as "bullspend," highlights the disconnect between reported ad performance and actual business outcomes. Experts emphasize the importance of focusing on return on ad spend rather than just reach, with LinkedIn being cited as a platform that delivers superior results.

The conversation shifts to the broader definition of success, which often gets conflated with wealth, fame, and power. A more nuanced understanding reveals that success can also encompass personal achievements, such as being a good listener or showing kindness. The discussion underscores the idea that true fulfillment comes from following one's unique path to success, rather than adhering to societal expectations, acknowledging that sacrifices are often necessary in the pursuit of both career and personal integrity.

Show Notes

We often think of being a success in status and financial terms. But being a success just means doing anything well, and there are so many ways to be successful, once we break away from the status ideals of our societies.

Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/hxL_w

Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/bK6HS

SOCIAL MEDIA

Feel free to follow us at the links below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/

X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/

CREDITS

Brought to you by http://www.theschooloflife.com

Produced in collaboration with Hannah Jacobs http://www.hellohannahjacobs.com

and Lara Lee - http://laralee.kr #TheSchoolOfLife ​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More from The School of Life

Oct 31, 2026

Eastern philosophy is a great deal more popular than its Western counterpart. That’s not because Western philosophy has nothing valuable to teach us - but because of the dispiriting, abstract way it has to date been presented to us by Western educational elites.

Oct 31, 2026

The problem with anxious moods is that they often hide from us what it is we're actually concerned about. It feels like we're worrying about this or that, when in reality, the origin of our anxiety actually lies elsewhere. Here is a wonderfully simple tool to learn what is really on our mind - in order that we can start to address it and be liberated from it.Uploaded 20-11-19Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/M4d3oBe more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/bVcqRFURTHER READINGYou can read more on this and other subjects here: https://bit.ly/2OtxbeB“One of the most difficult features of anxiety is that it tends to be all-consuming. It squats in the middle of our minds and refuses to let anything else in or through. Though the anxiety causes us great pain, it denies any attempts to be questioned, analysed, probed or reconfigured. We are both terrified and unable to think beyond our terror. Our thoughts become low, relentless, repetitive, stymied things: returning again and again to the issue of whether the door is locked, the accounts were signed off or the social media account is not under attack. Anxiety dominates over and excludes any other form of mental activity; all that will be in our minds is terror. Impregnable and bullying, anxiety in effect shuts down our central faculties…”MORE SCHOOL OF LIFEWatch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLselfSOCIAL MEDIAFeel free to follow us at the links below:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITSProduced in collaboration with: Zedem Animationshttps://www.zedemanimations.com/ Title animation produced in collaboration withVale Productionshttps://www.valeproductions.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 31, 2026

We’re used to thinking rather badly of flattery; but in fact, it’s one of the moves that can help people to develop and grow into better versions of themselves. Uploaded 05-06-17Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/XDsm8Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/yQP_O FURTHER READING “Flattery has a bad name. It’s associated with saying something upbeat but untrue in order to hoodwink its unsuspecting target for low personal gain. In Aesop’s famous fable, The Fox and the Crow, an ugly crow has found a piece of cheese and retired to a branch to eat it. A sly fox, wanting it for himself, flatters the crow, calling it beautiful and wondering whether its voice will be as sweet as its appearance. The crow lets out a horrific screeching sound and the cheese drops straight into the fox’s gaping expectant mocking jaw. But there’s another form of flattery with more valuable and ethical ambitions. Parents of small children invariably discover its uses – which deserve to be better known and practiced around all age groups. Let’s imagine that a child isn’t yet entirely kind to their brother, or good at drawing, or a perfect cook or helpful around the house – but the parent declares that they are so as to encourage and make more concrete what is as yet only tentative and fragile in their ambivalent nature. The child is being helped to end up as some of the things he has already been described as being...” You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://goo.gl/Mn9GJp MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLself SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Ana Stefaniakhttp://www.anastefaniak.co.uk/https://vimeo.com/sirmagpie #TheSchoolOfLife Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 30, 2026

Emotional Intelligence, Daily. Start now: https://www.theschooloflife.com/subscription/

Oct 30, 2026

The route to our best, most genius-like thoughts is not to be afraid of our stranger-sounding insights and hunches. Uploaded 08-08-17Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/AiqObBe more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/OjeAmFURTHER READING“We hear a lot about genius. We are taught to admire the minds of those infinite, baffling but astonishing geniuses like Einstein, Tolstoy or Picasso. Quite what genius might actually be is left a little vague. It’s a codeword for ‘brilliant but perhaps too other-worldly ever really to fathom.’ We are invited to stand in awe at the achievements of geniuses but also to feel that their thought processes might be quasi-magical and that it is ultimately simply mysterious how they were ever able to come up with the ideas they have had…”You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://goo.gl/AV1fgkMORE SCHOOL OF LIFEWatch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLselfSOCIAL MEDIAFeel free to follow us at the links below:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITSProduced in collaboration with: Tom Fisherwww.tomffisher.co.ukCatherine Prowsewww.catherineprowse.comHannah Quinnwww.itshannahquinn.comAda Wikdahlcargocollective.com/adawikdahl #TheSchoolOfLife Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See all episodes →