Redefining Success: Do You Really Need a Harvard Degree to Write Your Own Ticket?

I attended my 30th Harvard reunion at the beginning of June and helped to organize a panel called “Redefining Success: Finding Life’s Meaning on Our Own Terms.” We had six speakers, including myself, giving brief talks on how our definitions of success have changed since we were at Harvard and what made them change.

In my talk, I discuss how my childhood definition of success was to grow up and become an artist, while my dad pushed his definition of success on me: To get a Harvard degree, to become an attorney, and to make a shit-ton of money. I talk about how his pressure affected me over the years and how his suicide in 2008 finally got me to redefine success more fully for myself and to create more meaning in my life.

“Write your own ticket” came from his telling me when I was 9 and in third grade, “With a Harvard degree, you can write your own ticket.” Yes, I do have a Harvard. But watch the video to hear what I have to say about needing a Harvard degree to write your own ticket.

I also did a podcast on this topic before I gave the Harvard talk. You can listen to that here.