“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” — Epictetus
When people think about being successful, they usually imagine having an expensive car, an expensive house in an expensive neighbourhood, expensive clothes and expensive things.
That is said, money doesn’t buy happiness, which is true. We only need to take a look around to see famous people feeling depressed. Although they have wealth and apparently no worries in life, they are not happy. There are several of them who committed suicide too. Clearly, money and fame do not make us happy.
Our culture had evolved into something which only tells us we are going to be happy when we got something or someone, trying to be fine thanks to external stuff. That’s not right basically because you are depending on things that are not under your control.
As we already know, the only things which are under our control are our actions and thoughts, so our focus should be improving our inner dialogue and reaction to day-by-day situations. That’s the way to get to the Ataraxia.
In that way, you will feel a reorganization of your priorities: several things which make you angry will not, you’ll start to see conflicts from a more constructive perspective or you’ll maybe deaccelerate yourself from work because you want more time for family and social relations, and that’s ok.
It’s not like you will stop working or quit your job (although it could be for some people), it’s more like you will have fewer conflicts and understand people's problems, it’s more like you will help people doing their work without demanding recognition, it’s like you will try to make people feel great at work when they feel miserable, it’s like you will try different approaches resolving conflicts before taking a decision.
Co-workers can view this calm in you as a step back or as you haven’t enough ambition but it is not. You will keep doing your work but be more conscious about people and their needs feeling fulfilled meanwhile.