RIP 5Cs, S'pore youths now have new ideas of what success means

The definition of success for youths is now so much more than just the 5Cs.

Just take a look at the interactive board above, contributed by participants at one of the three Youth Conversations sessions on Success Narratives by the National Youth Council (NYC).

Redefining success

Instead of the conventional 5Cs -- Condo, Car, Cash, Country club, and Credit card -- a recent report published by NYC revealed that young Singaporeans viewed emotional well-being, personal growth and family as the top three indicators of success.

A series of online polls on the topic of success for the Youth Conversations found that over 500 respondents defined success as more than just good grades, traditional jobs and financial stability.

Instead, they strive towards “non-conventional” goals such as personal development, caring for well-being and seeking out purposeful experiences.

Personal growth is priority for youth

The polls’ results showed that today’s youth also placed significant priority on their personal growth, as this was identified as one of their top three domains of success.

In fact, the notion that personal growth is a priority for them was already reflected in the 2016 National Youth Survey, and also featured in the 2019 Youth Conversations Publication, where learning/ acquiring new skills (3rd) ranked higher as a life goal than a successful career (4th) and earning lots of money (5th).

Findings reflect a growing trend

The findings follow Dr Maliki Osman’s comments in Parliament last year, where he explained that “our youths today crave memorable and purposeful experiences that emphasise the importance of the journey, instead of being fixated with the destination”.

A 2018 Linkedin study also found that Singaporean professionals rated happiness as the highest indicator of success, at 76 per cent.

The 2019 Youth Conversations Publication findings are consistent with preliminary findings from the 2018 Youth Conversations engagement exercise, where youths indicated a desire for the definition of success to be broadened.

Different aspirations: emotional well-being

One such example is 30 year-old Jared Kong, who is an in-house lawyer for Zouk and a part-time DJ.

Having successfully married his passion and calling, Jared was also a speaker at one of the Youth Conversations sessions:

“What I shared about was really how to align both passion and purpose. With passion being what makes you happy, brings you joy, and purpose being how you can contribute to others and to the wider community with the things that you are passionate about.”

Another youth who went down the unconventional path is 32-year-old Lee Ying Ying, who started The SOAR Initiative (School of Ability and Recovery) through the Youth Conversations.

As someone who overcame an episode of mental health issues, Ying Ying wanted to create a mental wellness movement with education as a tool to reduce stigma against mental health issues.

Since January 2019, SOAR has been running a series of workshops to help participants learn to take care of their mental health.

Youths stepping up to help each other

The desire to acquire knowledge that prepares them for the future has inspired one particular youth to step up and help peers who may lack access to the right opportunities.

Having participated in the Youth Conversations, 25 year-old Clarence Ching started Access, a programme that focuses on education inequality in Singapore through providing greater equality of opportunities, mentorships and apprenticeships for students.

Through his experience in the Normal Academic (NA) stream in secondary school, Clarence observed that he and his peers were discriminated, which prompted him to start Bridge the Gap, a precursor to Access.

“We were discriminated against, teachers felt that we were not good enough, and resources were allocated towards the ones who were perceived to do well, rather than students who were passionate in a certain field. So I felt very strongly for it, and that is why in the middle of the year, we decided to [organise] Bridge the Gap.

Whether we start by looking at our own mindsets and attitudes, or our institutions and policies, what matters is that we start. Through our actions, we can build the future we want to live in.”

De-emphasis on the pursuit of 5Cs a positive step ahead

With an increasing number of youths experiencing stress and mental health issues, this change in aspirations should not be unexpected.

In fact, it should be seen as a positive step ahead, as more youths come to prioritise, beyond material goods, what makes them happy and defines their identity.

Ask any young person on the street about success and you’d still get a variety of responses: “to be respected by my peers”, “to progress in my job”, “to provide for my parents”.

But they all share the same sentiment -- to be valued for the type of person they are, and not the amount they own.

This is a sponsored post by the National Youth Council of Singapore.