※ 아래 스크립트는 발표자의 발표내용을 그대로 표기하였으므로 구어체 표현이 포함되어있고, 

   일부 문장은 문법적 오류가 포함될수 있는점 참고 부탁드립니다.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I am standing before you with no easy task, the task of 

defining a successful life. Before I get to the task, let me tell you about myself a little 

bit.

 

I am an avid, picky reader. I said 'avid' because I read all the time, and 'picky' 

because I only read books that I know are to my taste, which are usually fictions. 

But there is a non-fiction book that I read and loved, and its title is “One Big Thing”.

 

Unlike a great number of titles out there, this title did not lie, which means this book 

actually taught me one big thing: chasing two rabbits at the same time will only leave 

you with carrots on the dinner table. Trust me, that would be one sad dinner for me. 

To avoid having that dinner, I had to choose to be either funny or serious with this 

speech. It wasn’t hard to choose. One thing you cannot do is pretend to be funny, 

but one thing anyone can do is pretend to be serious.

 

So, if you don't find this speech funny, it is only because I intended to chase a serious 

rabbit, not a funny one. So, please join me in my hunt for the serious rabbit, which 

begins with a question.

What do people mean when they say they want to live a successful life? Do they mean 

they want to make a lot of money? Or become famous? Or maybe invent something 

groundbreaking?

 

I contemplated the questions long and hard, only to search "successful people" on 

Google Image, and as you can imagine, quite many pictures popped up. Trying to 

keep myself from getting depressed about the fact that none of them was my picture, 

I scrolled down to see who were the lucky ones. There were people like Bill Gates, 

Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Warren Buffett. It was almost like the word successful

 is synonymous with the word impossible. Well, that would explain why in the famous 

movie series, Mission Impossible, its lead actor, Tom Cruise, always successfully 

completes the mission! Well, maybe Mission Impossible meant, “Mission successful”!

 

All kidding aside, looking at those pictures, I was compelled to think the term 

‘successful’ was too narrowly defined to embrace more than just few prestigious 

people. So, I decided to challenge that by coming up with my own definition of the 

word “successful”. Here's what I came up with.

 

First, being successful means being free of any distress caused by financial problems. 

If you have enough money to feed yourself and your loved ones and to have a roof 

over your head, without having had to borrow money from anyone or any financial 

institution, then you are 'financially' successful. However, financial success alone does 

not guarantee a successful life. Second, being successful means being able to spend 

as much time as you wish, doing what you want. If you are well off, yet have no time 

for yourself, you can't claim to have a successful life. Success means nothing without 

enough time to enjoy. Third and last, being successful means being truly satisfied 

with who you are and what you have. No matter how rich you are, and no matter 

how much time you have for yourself, If you still find yourself unsatisfied and always 

wanting more, your life is far from a successful one.

 

A life filled with greed and dissatisfaction is anything but successful. Having defined 

my version of successful life, how will I achieve that? Well, I have three simple 

approaches. First approach: I will do what I love. Doing what I love will efficiently 

motivate me to do my best, which I believe will lead to my financial success. Second, 

I will put my time above money. It will enable me to have quality time with my family 

and friends, which might have nothing to do with a financial success, but everything 

to do with a happy life. Thus, a successful life. Third approach: I will always try to be 

grateful for who I am, whom I’m with, and what I have. After all, what’s the point of

being successful if I’m not content with my life.

 

Ah, before I leave the stage, I'd like to apologize. I'm sorry that my speech was 

primarily on defining “success,” at the risk of misleading you. So if you allow me, I 

want to set the record straight by stating this: Success is important, but, life is much 

more important. So, please do not fall into a trap of sacrificing life for success.

 

Learn to cherish your time and love yourself and those around you, then and only 

then, should you begin your journey to success. Oh, by the way, anyone wondering 

if I’ve caught my rabbit yet? Well, don’t worry about it. In the worst-case scenario, 

I will be at the dinner table, surrounded by my loved ones, with enough time to get 

familiar with my carrots. Thank you.