Growing up, Emmett Osborn was given some very “sound” advice. Ignoring it put him on a different and far more satisfying path.

Emmett Osborn is a success. But it might surprise you what he considers that to mean.

Sure, he’s an executive of a rapidly expanding energy company, but that’s not how he gauges success.

Osborn, who is featured on the Scientology Network in an episode of I am a Scientologist, “knew” that the way to succeed was to “get a good job at a good company so you can set yourself up for retirement to be comfortable in your golden years.” At least, that’s what they told him. But it simply didn’t fit with the way he saw things.

“I just wanted more out of life,” he says. “I had an underlying desire to change things, make them better, make a difference.”

Applying himself in school, he earned degrees in mathematics, physics and engineering. This put him in a perfect position to follow the advice he was given, but the game still didn’t appeal to him. Instead, he went on a search to understand the mysteries of life.

“I looked into every religion, every technique, every group that appeared to have answers—that desired to make a difference,” he says. “But I could never wrap my head around something that I had to have ‘faith in.’”

Then in the early 1990s, he discovered Dianetics and Scientology and found the exact combination of factors he was looking for.

“I read Dianetics cover to cover and was excited to find things I could apply, to get my own experience, to form my own opinion, to be able to see how it worked in life—did it make things better or not.”

Not only did he find all the spiritual answer he was looking for, but he also gained tools to create a great marriage and every other aspect of the kind of life he always hoped to lead.

“For me, with Dianetics and Scientology you have the manual for how life works,” says Osborn. “It allows me to think for myself, which is very important to me because I always felt a little different than most.”

As far as success goes, he has worked out his own definition—one that is a great deal more satisfying than having a secure and quiet retirement.

“Today I judge my success in the following way,” says Osborn. “When I leave somewhere, is it better because I was there? For me, being a Scientologist is having the ability to help another, and that is when life is life.”

The I am a Scientologist series on the Scientology Network features short and uplifting vignettes of Scientologists from all different walks of life and from every corner of the world. A wide array of everyday people, from just about every imaginable occupation, give personal accounts on a variety of topics, from succeeding at work to raising a family. But no matter how different their careers or how remote the distances between them, each of them credits the simple yet powerful tools of Scientology with transforming their lives and influencing their success.