The Definition of Success and Its Categories

Hard work overcomes the financial definition of success. To some success is how much money you make or what type of car you drive and to some success is making it on time to work. Definition of success according to Dictonary.com is “the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one’s goal.” Therefore success or being successful can apply to anyone that wants to achieve it. With the many variants of success it can be placed into three categories, which are discussed in this essay. While success is measured by many things a large factor of success is measured by your failure.

Success isn’t measured through only finances. Almost any successful person will tell you in order to secede you first have to fail. According to Ralph Heath, “Failure and defeat are life's greatest teachers sadly, most people, and particularly conservative corporate cultures don’t want to go there.” While this statement is extremely accurate it is actually sad. We are so worried about failure in today's society because we are taught that successful people don’t fail. While it's easy to say to just fail so you can learn from your mistakes it truly isn’t easy to fail. Most would agree that we will not do something unless we are pretty sure we will succeed. This is the idea that holds us all back more than we realize though.

Success requires hard work and initiative. Just because you go to college doesn’t make you successful. We are given this mindset that college will solely make us successful. This is fed to us by peers from an early age. While college is for some it also is not for some others. Yet people are afraid of “letting down their peers” by not going to college. What truly makes someone successful is the initiative they take in their life to accomplish tasks and their work ethic. Someone that shows initiative in their life will use the seven pillars of success, patience, hustle, focus, persistence, grind, sacrifice, and ambition to help guide them through tasks.

While success comes in many forms and shapes there are 3 forms of it. With the one most people associate with, financial success. Financial success is achieving a better financial position than you were previously. For some this might be paying off student loans, paying your mortgage on a house, or paying of your car. It also has another meaning with some defining it as achieving a certain net worth. This is the one that people struggle with. They don’t realize what it takes to become wealthy. They see these get quick rich schemes that send them into the inevitably wrong idea about what success is.

The next is career success. Career success is subjective and it has a different meaning depending on the person you ask. For some career success may be being pleased with the job career they picked or who they work for. You can achieve career success by being open to ideas of your peers, relating to people, picking a career path that you are passionate about, and showing leadership qualities.

The final category for success is having successful health. This is by far the most important type of success. Successful health encompasses a healthy social life, a balanced diet, and overall being happy. Something that can affect your successful health in a negative way is career and financial success. It is imperative that you find the happy medium with both of these in order to conserve your health. Ways to improve this kind of success is by finding hobbies that peak your interest, help you grow in knowledge such as reading, and taking time to yourself and relaxing.

A great example of success is Oprah Winfrey. She came from a rough background but yet she was able to turn her life around and focus on a career dealing with T.V. While dealing with discrimination she saw her goal and never gave up even when her show would be last in the ratings. She saw where she was failing and this caused her to change her shows format which caused her viewings to explode. Even though Oprah is known for her success in her shows, magazines and being one of the world's richest women she has another definition of success. When being asked 'What is your definition of success?', she says “How to be used in the greater service to life. Ask this question, and the answer will be returned and rewarded to you with fulfillment, which is the major definition of success, to me.” In this statement Oprah means that ask what yourself what is your purpose in this world is and find it and you will become successful. Success is ultimately relative to the person. So how do you define success?