Success is doing what you love and loving people while you do

The words of Anthony Ramos shine like a torch of wisdom passed from heart to heart: “Success is doing what you love and loving people while you do it.” In this truth, he strips away the illusions of wealth and fame, the hollow crowns that so many chase, and reveals the essence of success—to live with passion for your calling, and to bind that passion to kindness and love for others. For what is achievement if it leaves you empty? What is greatness if it crushes those around you? True success, Ramos teaches, is a harmony of joy in your labor and compassion in your spirit.

The ancients understood this. They spoke of arete, the Greek ideal of excellence—not as riches or conquest, but as living in harmony with your purpose, fulfilling the potential the gods placed within you. Yet excellence was never meant for the self alone; it was bound to community, to justice, to the service of others. So too does Ramos remind us: doing what you love is not enough unless you also love people while you do it. It is this union of joy and compassion that gives life its highest meaning.

Consider the story of Mahatma Gandhi, who could have lived a quiet life of law and study, yet chose instead to bind his love of truth to the service of his people. He wove simplicity and devotion into his days, resisting oppression not with hatred but with compassion for both the oppressed and the oppressors. His success was not measured in titles or possessions, but in the liberation of millions—and it was achieved through the love he carried for humanity while he pursued what he believed in. Gandhi embodied Ramos’s truth centuries before it was spoken.

So too in the realm of art. Fred Rogers, known simply as Mister Rogers, dedicated his life to television, a craft he loved. Yet he never sought fame or spectacle; his mission was to nurture children with gentleness, dignity, and respect. He loved people even as he did the work he adored. And because of this, his legacy is not merely a career, but a wellspring of kindness that endures across generations. In him we see the proof that success is not only creation, but love woven into creation.

But many fall into the trap of ambition, seeking only to do what they love without regard for others. History is filled with brilliant minds who created wonders yet treated people with cruelty, leaving behind shadows rather than light. Ramos warns us against this. To do what you love while forgetting love itself is to win the world but lose your soul. The measure of true success is not only what you build, but how others are lifted and healed by the way you build it.

O listener, let this teaching pierce your heart: success is not distant, nor is it reserved for the powerful. It begins now, in the smallest acts. When you write a line of music with joy, when you cook a meal with care, when you teach, build, or labor with love in your hands and kindness in your voice—you are already successful. Success is not a destination but a way of being.

Practical wisdom follows: seek the work that awakens your soul. If you cannot yet live fully in it, nurture it in small ways until it grows. At the same time, discipline your heart to love those around you in your labor—your family, your companions, even strangers touched by your work. Do not separate your craft from your compassion. Let them flow together like two rivers into one sea. For it is in their union that fulfillment is found.

Thus remember Anthony Ramos’s words as an eternal law: success is joy joined with love, passion joined with compassion. Do not chase hollow crowns or fleeting applause. Instead, live your calling with fire in your heart, and let that fire warm others. In doing so, you will not only succeed—you will live as one who has truly fulfilled the purpose of life itself.