Success As You Define It

Everyday everywhere we see and hear about people who have become successful in their chosen paths. We’ve all heard about Bill Gate’s billions, Oprah’s stellar rise to media stardom, Michael Phelps’ phenomenal Olympic triumph and much, much more. We also hear about successful people in the making such as those in your company who are being groomed to become a manager or a CEO perhaps. Just recently, I heard about a high school acquaintance of mine who is now a successful physician, running his own lucrative practice. He only talked about becoming it during our high school days. Now, he’s living his dream.

Success. It’s a very strong word. It moves mountains and destroys gargantuan barriers for its own sake. But what exactly is success?

The word is encompassing. Dictionaries and other resources will produce a plethora of meanings such as “the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted” from Dictionary.com.

Success is also very relative. It all hangs in how people see success. When car enthusiast is asked what success is for him, he’d probably say owning the latest BMW Z model car. Some fashionista might respond with having the latest Calvin Klein collection. A career person might define success as having promoted in his job. A salesperson would inevitably refer to closing a multi-million or multi-billion dollar deal as an ultimate success for him.

However different people all over the world in all walks of life define success, it’s meaning boils down to just this; satisfaction of one’s desire. It is no surprise, then, that people, my self included, get so envious when people get to the top of their games. We especially envy them when we are in the same game they are playing! Does this remind you of when a colleague got so humiliated after losing the battle for promotion to a most coveted job position to someone else?

So, what do you hope to be successful at?