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Live your lay life according to the Singalovada Sutta. Dedicate one hour a day or as much as you can spare for meditation, listening to the Dhamma. When you get vacation, visit a meditation center and practice intensively. This way yo can succeed at both.
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You can always build your "worldly success" while practicing Buddhism. There is no conflict of each other.
If you are talking about go the monastic direction and live like a monk, that's a totally different story.
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Open yourself up to the world. Let the possibilities excite and draw you in. The greatest gift you can bring to the world is yourself, enlightened by your own spiritual practice. Whichever path you take, you will end up where you were meant to be. The lessons you need will find you, where ever you are. Allow yourself to look towards what inspires you, not only what is safe and has good financial prospects. Youth has magic to it (even if being young is not an accomplishment), you can breathe in possibility. Don't allow the disappointments of others to guide you to a lesser path with the idea that it is safer. There is nothing safe in unhappiness.
As you walk along your path, keep checking on whether your path has the aspects you need most.
Here is a list that I think is well worded, but you can craft your own. (I welcome edits if someone can make Right Livelihood clearer)
• Is what we are doing causing harm to others or suffering for ourselves?
• Is the way we live and the way we support ourselves causing harm or suffering?
• What are the purposes for which we work?
• What values do we express in our work?
• What consequence does our work have on the quality of our inner life?
• What consequences does it have on the world?
• Is the way we live our life satisfying and meaningful? If it isn’t, what can we change to create greater joy, satisfaction, and meaning?
(I copied it from here: https://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-buddhism-helped-me-find-a-better-career.html )
Upvote:1
You can definitely pursue materialistic happiness while following the Noble Eightfold Path. Please see this answer for the question "Can a Buddhist own and run a billion dollar business?". Also, please see this answer on the pursuit of happiness in Buddhism.
The first step in the Noble Eightfold Path is developing Right View and you need to do this by studying the Dhamma.
At the same time, you should learn about developing virtue (sila) and wholesome qualities, and practising them with heedfulness.
The most minimum set of training rules to undertake are the five precepts. But developing skillful living and skillful thinking exceeds the five precepts by far.
Meditation can come later.