So, I'm at B&N this weekend, and as usual, I become spellbound by all of the collective knowledge that is, literally, at my fingertips as I walk up and down the aisles. I find it absolutely mind-boggling that you can be in a single edifice and hold the keys to the universe if you look closely enough ( I was, coincidentally, in the space-exploration aisle). I suppose the same could be said if you are standing in a library, but there is something about those clear plastic wrappings they put on library books that makes what is contained within seem less accessible. But, as usual, I digress.
So, there I am, walking among the aisles of knowledge and I find myself in the self-help section looking at all the titles: The Success Book, How to Succeed in Business, 7 Secrets of Successful Teens etc. All of these books, all dedicated to the notion of success. That was when it hit me--how do these books ever sell? Aren't all individual ideas of what success is dramatically different? And then, it hit me again..."I wonder what are my poppets' definitions of success is? Hmmmmmm...blog question!" And now, here we are.
So, tell me--what is YOUR definition of success? What are the hallmarks, again, to YOU, of a successful person? How do you judge whether or not you are successful? Are there different levels, different measures of importance tied to levels? What do you need to have, to own, to acquire in order to feel successful? What types of things need to happen in order for you to see yourself as a success?
(450 words/60pts)
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So today was just a normal Monday. It’s the first day of the school week and already I wish it were the weekend. I got off of my bus, went to my locker, and proceeded to algebra two listening and taking notes on adding complex fractions. Next was second period where I changed into my gym clothes, sat in those pointless squad lines, “stretched”, and played three games of volleyball. Then it was off to homeroom where I aimlessly starred at Falcon TV for twelve minutes. Before long I was sitting at a lab table in Chem discussing with Darrell how I got cut from the softball team. Oh yeah, and to top off this morning jam packed with excitement, Erin wasn’t here today. COOL, except not. But when I arrived to room A18, my mood changed from blah to AHHH! Solo tryouts for The Circle of Life were last week and I’m not going to lie, but I really wanted this one more than anything, even though it’s like five lines. The Lion King is my all time favorite Disney movie. You can ask Erin. We watched it once with the subtitles on to learn the African words in the beginning. Yes I know, it’s very sad. Anyway, today Mr. Bass had us stand up and get ready to sing the Lion King opener. Already I was getting anxious because I knew he knew who he had picked for the solo. Normally, he tortures everyone for a week and waits to tell, but today he revealed who got it. He turns to his left and points at me, “You got it.” This probably sounds so dumb, but it made me feel successful. What a coincidence, just the topic of this week’s blog. I felt like there was actually a purpose for coming to school today. No offense, but who really cares about adding complex fractions or how to balance and solve some chemical equation? No one, that’s who. I think coming to school should be something kids look forward to doing and the only way to do that is to find something that they love to do and that they’re good at. I love to sing and it makes me feel successful whenever I do it, whether it’s with the whole choir, select, women’s, O’Girls, South Jersey Chorus, or singing a solo. I guess I would have to say that my definition of success = singing.
That’s just my success personally, but success in general would be something that you’ve worked for, practiced at, and achieved whole-heartedly. I think success is all about confidence. It makes it ten times easier to achieve at something if you look at its positives and believe you can do it. I’ve surprised myself. Coming into Oakcrest as a new little freshman, I was terrified to tryout for solos in choir. I sat WAY in the back of the room next to Leslie and Stephanie Pharo and was scared out of my mind to step out of my box, even though I’ve been in choir since 4th grade. High School was a completely different story. I remember the first solo that I ever tried out for. It was the girl part for Seasons of Love from Rent. I was debating on whether to try it all period and when everyone else had gone I suddenly got an urge to try. I stood up, Mr. Bass began to play the piano, and the sound that came out of my mouth sounded like a dying bird. I was SO nervous that I couldn’t even sing it. Well, of course I didn’t get it, but from then on I kept on trying and have gotten a few solos ever since then. I’m even in South Jersey Chorus and I never would have thought that I would be where I am today a couple of years ago. I think without people giving me that extra nudge and support I would have never tried out for another solo after that dying bird disaster. With my teachers, my family, and my friends supporting me, that gives me success. To know that people want to hear me and want me to succeed makes me strive that much harder to do it.
Success. It’s something we all yearn for. We want to be in the top of our class, graduate and attend a prestigious school, get a well-paying job, live comfortably for the rest of our lives. For me, happiness is success. It doesn’t truly matter if I graduate in the top 1% of my class, go to an ivy league school, or make $300,000 a year. I know it all seems important now, but in the realm of things, it’s nothing. As long as I’m happy and love my life, I’ll feel successful.
I feel successful when I get good grades. I feel successful when I stick a stunt in cheer that I didn’t think I could ever get. I used to feel successful when I played the flute, something I really regret not fully sticking to. I feel successful when I teach my sister how to do a math problem that she couldn’t comprehend the least bit. All these things make me happy. They make everything I do seem worth it.
If I was doing all these things and none of it brought me a sense of fulfillment, I wouldn’t consider myself to be successful. Not everyone is happy after they do well on a test or after they cheerlead. Overcoming obstacles and taking leaps forward makes someone successful. Like Rebecca sings, I used to be attached to the flute. I had a few of my dead bird moments but I practiced and practiced until I was eventually first chair of the South Jersey band. I think the night I saw online that I got first chair was probably the night I felt the most successful ever. Something that I worked my butt off for was worth it. I was recognized for my hard work and I was beyond happy. I’m pretty sure I cried happy tears for about an hour.
I don’t think materialistic items make someone successful. There was this guy on tv a few months ago who had been making a good chunk of change working at some major company and gave up his job to help children in less fortunate countries learn how to read. He doesn’t have the big house or the fancy cars anymore but he has joy and happiness. I think once you find something you love to do and something you are passionate about, you’re successful.
In the future, I do want to graduate with good grades, go to a good school, and make a sufficient amount of money. But if I don’t follow my heart and do what I want to do with my life, I won’t consider myself successful, no matter how much money follows. Happiness is the key to success, which I think I stole from some poster I’ve seen. Well I just looked it up online and Albert Schweitzer once said, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” I think that quote basically sums up my theory.
Everyone has there own definition of success. Success to one person is completely different than what another thinks success is. Success is the achievement of the goals set for ones self. Donald Trump would probably say he is a very successful man and at the same time there are plenty of average Joe’s who would label themselves as being successful. I feel successful when I reach the goals that I set. If I were to set a goal to get an “A” on a test and then receive an “A” on it, I would feel as if I was successful in studying and preparing myself to reach the goal in which I was striving for.
When I see that people have achieved the most they could in life and are making the best of it, I think of them as being successful. But this is just my perception and this doesn’t mean they are or they are not. I believe that people can only determine if they are successful or not. Many people believe success is being rich where others believe success is having a happy life and so on and so forth. Personally I view people who are happy and have a job that they enjoy and do well in as being successful. When I was younger I thought the more successful people were the rich people. But as I have grown older my perception has changed.
I have a whole list of goals that I would like to accomplish when I get older. If I do not reach these goals but know that I tried my hardest, I’ll still feel successful. I know the goals that I have are in my reach and if I do reach them I’ll feel successful. If I don’t reach one or two, it won’t make me feel unsuccessful. For example, one of my goals was to crack the top 20 by the end of Junior year. If I miss it by one or two spots I’ll still feel successful because I know I tried my hardest and still had a good year. Without determination and motivation, I believe it is very hard for one to be successful. A person needs to be motivated and has to be determined to reach their success. If people don’t care and don’t drive to reach their goals, the odds of them reaching their success are slim to none. Rebecca said it perfectly when she stated people need to have confidence. When people are confident they are able to reach their goals easier. People have everything they need to become successful. They just need to know how to use their abilities and qualities. I know, although there are times I doubt myself, that I can do what I want in life and become successful if I stay motivated and don’t give up on my dreams.
In the musical "Ragtime," the immigrants sang a song about success as they hoped and dreamed for a rich future. Success is in everybody's eyes, including in my own. Being in drama and choir, I go to voice lessons every week to practice so that I can improve myself. Eventually I reach my goal in getting a lead or a solo or even getting into select choir. That is my idea of success. Not singing as Becca said, but working hard to obtain my goals. Even in my schoolwork, I study as hard as I can to obtain an A and once I do, I have reached success. Sometimes we do fail, but that is part of life. If we don't fail, then we won't learn from our mistakes and work harder so that next time, we reach our goals.
To certain people, success is just given to them. Paris Hilton (sorry Bunje), for example, sells her sex appeal and gets billions of dollars for it, but mommy and daddy already had money to just hand to her through her whole life. To the normal, middle-class folk, we have to start from scraps and work hard because, unfortunately, we can't all be a Paris Hilton.
To feel successful, you have to reach your goals. You can't really specify a person's level of success because we are all different. At the end of the year, I will feel successful because I have lasted my junior year and until then I am going to work hard and stress until I get to that point. It's just my personality, but that's when I feel successful, when I have no more stress and nothing to do because I have accomplished everything.
Money, a nice car, and a big house doesn't define success. It's all about how you see yourself. If you are living in a box on a street side in Atlantic City and that's where you want to be, than go you! It's all up to you. Only you can determine your outcome of life and whether your happy or not, but we have to also remember that success doesn't always bring happiness too. It all comes back to the person and some people just try too hard and can't handle the pressure once they get there.
Success is like a circular tree. You go up, branch off in few directions, and then sometimes you end up right where you started. That's why we are always taught to try our hardest and reach our goals, but to be prepared for many obstacles and maybe even unsuccessful results.
Success to me is achieving goals or aspirations you set for yourself. As you said Bunje, I think success is completely based on each individual’s view of success; what is successful to one person is not for another. Getting an A on paper is success to one person and to another getting a C on that same paper may be success. For me, I have always set high standards for myself. I don’t usually set small goals though, usually they are about a bigger picture, a far less concentrated or specific goal. As I am writing this I am coming to the conclusion that the reason I do this is probably to ensure that I do not let myself down. I’ve always considered success as getting “good grades” but yet I’ve never attached an actual number GPA or grade in every class to this goal. I also think that your view of success is relative to what else is going on in your life. For example, during a stressful time you may give more credit to something as being successful which is really not. But back to what I think defines success. To me, it’s hard to see a person my own age as successful or not because we are too young and have not experienced enough of the real world yet to determine whether we are successful. When I do think about being successful one person pops into my head and that’s my dad. He has an amazing job and has worked up to the top position at his company through much hard work and determination. I see him working on his work and can’t help but be inspired. He also manages to be a great family man and is always helping others in need. To me he embodies success because it is in his entire life, not just one aspect of his life. He is overall successful in what he does and I think that makes him successful. I guess then my view of success is based on job status, living arrangements, interaction with other people, as well as fulfilling your hopes and dreams. When I think about being successful I see myself in a big house driving a nice car with the picture perfect family at home waiting for me and a great job, high paying job. So I guess that’s my take on success.
I guess there would be different levels of success. You can be successful in one aspect of your life which I guess would be the first tier. Then you can be successful at multiple aspects or at all aspects and completely encompass the definition of success. I think it is possible to live your life so you are at the highest level since you are setting the goals and therefore your success. I don’t think there is a specific importance tied to the levels per say but I do think the more things you are successful at, the closer you are to living a completely successful life.
I think success is all about what you make of it. If you feel that you are not successful, then you will not get there. Being successful is all about being happy with where you are in your life and the different parts of your life. If you work hard at things, then you will be successful guaranteed, maybe not to the degree you wanted to be, but definitely successful. Basically you need to be content with yourself and who you are and where you are in your life to be able to feel success. I definitely think education is a large portion of being successful. You need the foundation before you can start building your life of success.
Megan brings up a good point. No matter what happens, as long as I am happy that is success. That has always been my main goal in life- to be truly happy with everything. And with that will come success, no matter what.
Success… Success… Success… Everyone wants it and it is so widely searched for. Success, to me, is just the plain and simple achievement of reaching a goal or plan. It doesn’t have to be anything extremely amazing or extraordinary, just something that is helpful to oneself or others. On Microsoft Word the definition of a successful person is somebody who is wealthy, famous, or powerful because of a record of achievement. I strongly disagree with this image of a successful person. A successful person to me is someone that works hard to earn something they want. It doesn’t have to be money or power, but just as simple as a loving family or a personal goal.
The judging of success is different to each individual. One individual may find helping others to be successful and others may find large sums of money to be successful. I judge success by how good I do, from good grades on tests to a better erg time at crew. Success is all around, but everyone just has to choose the right path. I think success is judged by if one is happy with what they have completed. And one is extra successful if it has helped others in the process. I do believe there are different levels of success. There is personal success when one reaches a personal goal or a height never reached before. Then there are fund successes when one makes good amounts of money through HARD work. Then on a higher level there is success that helps other people and maybe finds a way to support others. Then the top level with extreme importance is the success of cures or other ways that help the needy in a superb way.
To acquire the feeling of success one needs to feel they have done everything they could to reach their goal. The feeling of success makes you all warm and proud inside. Others will be proud of you and you will just feel you have completed something that was worthwhile. When I feel successful with my school work I feel it will bring me somewhere in the future. I know I worked hard for the grade and I feel extremely happy. And even if it isn’t the best grade I still feel a degree of success because I know I did my best and can always try to do better the next time. In crew when I get a good erg time I feel pain, but pleasure also. My pain is my pleasure in crew because it shows I am being successful and becoming better than what I was before. To see yourself as a success you don’t need money or power. These things may show some unimportant signs of success, but are not important at all. The things needed are optimistic and happy feelings alone with good outcomes such as good grades, a healthy family, good friends, or a well earned reward. Materialistic things are just bad images of what success really is. There are really endless amounts of things that really show success and are different for each.
I agree with Dave when he says that people have everything they need to be successful. This sort of falls back onto when I said people need to choose the right road. Overall, people can be successful in everything they do as long as they try their bests and do everything to the fullest.
At first thought I felt my idea of success was happiness, just like Megan. I feel like that might be too broad of a definition though, also, nearly impossible to achieve. I’m not happy all the time. No one is. Does that mean that whenever I’m in a bad mood or upset about something I’m a failure? I don’t want to have that kind of mindset. Being happy with my life is of course what I want, but I don’t want to describe success through the use of an emotion. Emotions are forever changing. I’d rather define it as something more...well, definite.
Instead of happiness, I feel the word achievement correlates more soundly with my idea of success. In order to have achievements I must first set goals, work hard, and accomplish these goals. Success then comes after accomplishing the goal, and naturally happiness as well. The different levels of success come from the different amounts of effort put in to achieve it. You’re obviously going to work harder to get a promotion at work than you are to get an A on an English essay. The more work that you put into something, the more fulfillment you will receive when you accomplish this goal. I understand that getting an ‘A’ on a test may not make someone feel successful and happy all the time. But, if this test was something they worked hard preparing for they will certainly feel success and worth when they receive their ‘A’.
I consider myself, in the grand scheme of thing, a successful teenager. I am not pregnant, addicted to drugs, or a drop out. Sike, that’s not how I measure my success. I do feel successful though. I have accomplished most of the goals I have set for myself in high school, and thus far in my life. I have failed, though, at some things. However, these failures do not make me unsuccessful. Sometimes I wonder though, that by simply not doing my best makes me less successful. If you’re not working to your full potential does that mean you’ve failed? I really don’t know. I hope not. I see myself as successful when I accomplish the goals I set for myself. I don’t like to set just one, huge, long-time goal either. I like to have many different goals so I get the feeling of being successful very often.
David makes a good point. We all have everything we need for success. All we have to do is apply ourselves and go in the direction of our goals with determination.
For Steve, Blue, and Periwinkle, they can only be successful if they work together. They each have to use their special talents to make the big musical a success. Of course, they are just part of the Blue’s Clues movie that I‘m watching as I baby-sit, and life is not as easy as that. Success is a very ambiguous word. Dave said “Success is the achievement of the goals set for ones self.” But for me, where you go, how much you make, or what you become. Even if you do not achieve some goals, you can still be successful. Success is determined on how you feel. If a person can stop anything they are doing to think about their life at any random moment, and honestly say they are happy with and proud of their life, they are a success. That person can be the cashier at the local grocery store, or a man at a job on Wall Street. Money does not always make a person successful, though my father tends to think so. I am not saying that a person making a lot of money is not successful, but in order for a person to feel successful, they need to achieve something they wanted, and isn’t what everyone wants is to be happy?
Of course there are different levels of success, but they can only be seen when two people are compared to one another. It is only when a person looks at someone “more successful” than they are that they start to feel down trodden. Success should not be compared. Success is personal, and bringing other peoples success takes away from your success. Everyone has different ways to be successful, it is a shame when a person believes they are not successful just because their neighbor is “more successful.
Success for me. Right now, I feel successful. I am happy, a lot happier than I have been lately. I’m proud that I have been able stay out of trouble throughout high school, and maintain my grades. But in the future, I will see myself as a success if I have a husband, a family, and possibly a career. And yes, in that order. I do not need a career. I can be successful without one. Don’t worry Bunje, of course I’m going to college and of course I’m going to have a career. But I know I won’t be happy unless I have a family of my own. But those are specifics, and I don’t know if they are what will really make me happy, and successful. What I do know is a bit cliché, and I’m sure almost everyone agrees. I don’t want to grow up and regret NOT doing something. I could live with regret because of something I did because then I can at least say I attempted something. But regretting not doing something is worse because than you didn’t experience something.
FLASH INTO THE FUTURE!
I’m rushing around a kitchen, packing lunches, yelling up the stairs to my kids to “GET UP OR YOU’LL BE GROUNDED!” I have to take the baby to the doctor’s before handing her off to my husband so I can go to work. Though my life is complete chaos and extremely hectic, I stop for a second and think to myself. Am I a success? I am because I am happy and proud. I hope that’s what my life is like.
I remember my freshman (or maybe sophomore) year in Spanish class. We had a conversation similar to the conversation this blog is trying to evoke. My Spanish teacher was trying to explain what success meant to her and coming from a poor Puerto Rican family, her definition of success was going to community college and becoming a school teacher. She thought of herself as successful and a few of us in class looked at her with a blank stare that shouted: YOU THINK GOING TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE IS SUCCESSFUL?! At the time, I thought I was on top of the world. I thought I could get into MIT and become some amazing computer scientist that was going to invent new creative ways for computers to take over our lives. I still basically want to do that and it is my dream to do that. That was success. Now that I think about that memory, I am amazed to see how much more of an understanding I have about the things that matter in life. Since then, I have learned so much about success and what it means to me. Yes, to me success is not defined as going to community college. However, I am now able to completely understand WHY that could be someone's definition of success.
I think too many people yolk the concept of success and prestige together. You are either successful or you are not. You aren't sort-of-kind-of successful. No. That's stupid. Success, like almost everything else in life, is viewed differently by everyone else. Success is one of aspects of life you can fulfill if you are able to define it for yourself. However, in the context of the college example, a graduate from a more prestigious college will be considered more successful than a graduate from a community college. I do not think the degree of success can be compared amongst the successful if everyone has a different definition.
However, I run into a problem. I don't know if I am successful. I don't feel like I have been successful yet. I do, though, have full confidence that during some point of my life I will feel successful and accomplished. I just don't feel like I am an example of success at the ripe old age of seventeen. Can you only be successful once? When are you successful? Can young people be successful? I think they are the real questions we must ponder.
Brittany said in her blog: "Basically you need to be content with yourself and who you are and where you are in your life to be able to feel success." I feel like that sort of answers my questions. Successful people determine their success themselves. I think that implies that you can only be successful once and not more than once, but I am going to define this as macrosuccess. Yes. Over a long period of time, a successful person has experienced macrosuccess. Short term goals, like getting an A on a test, could be considered microsuccess. Yes. My scheme is perfect. You could have multiple successes with microsuccess, but not with macrosuccess.
I'm starting to sound like economics or evolution, but it works. Macrosuccess will make me happy. =]
I think the word "success" has come to be overrated. Danny Lang told us the definition of Microsoft Word listed a successful person as being wealthy, famous, or powerful. Who is Microsoft Word to define what "successful" truly is? I guess they're SOMEWHAT warranted to do that because Bill Gates runs business, and I guess if you were to pick the three top adjectives to describe him, you'd pick wealthy, famous, and powerful. Oh, how ironic (only not)to see that Bill Gates pretty much offhandedly thinks that the definition of a successful man is himself. But as you said Bunj, "I disgress."
Success is an incentive to reach at the end of a goal to make all of the hard work pay off. It even has the power to boost self-esteem because of the endorphins that put you on top of the world after you accomplish a goal. The reason I think being successful is overrated is because you don't necessarily have to be the best at something or win something to be considered it. For example, it's obvious that the person that won the mile running race by 10 seconds was sucessful in accomplishing their goal to be the best. But what about the competitor that could barely run a quarter of a mile before they started training for the race? Even if they came in last, in my opinion they were successful because they pushed their limits and finished what they started. With that said, I think being successful comes along with stepping out of your comfort zone and willingly accepting a challange. I think as long as you're able to do this (or even attempt it until you finally get to the point where maybe it's possible), this is how you judge you're successful.
After I thought about it for a little bit, I really don't think there's different levels of success. Or maybe it's that I mean that not everyone should be judged on the same level of success. What is a "success" to one person could be completely out of reach (or even too easily.
I really liked how Emily ended her blog, saying, “Am I a success? I am because I am happy and proud. I hope that’s what my life is like.” I think that being successful also comes from being confident. Not being TOO confident because that’s never good, but believing in yourself enough to want to succeed. Some people don’t have this drive because they’ve never allowed themselves to be offered the opportunity to be successful, or put themselves in the right position. I think that once you achieve success you get a hunger for it, and you start to want to be successful in everything you do because you feel like a better person.
Another definition. And I was hoping for another fun, easy blog. But I think success is something I might have a definition for. I think it’s just setting goals and reaching them, or at least accomplishing things you wanted to even if you don’t reach a lofty goal. So, pretty much, I have a similar definition as Dave, Erin and Monica and probably others I haven’t read yet. Like Monica, I think success is something more definite than something fickle like emotions and not easily lost. It’s not something you can get and lose overall on a constant basis because failures don’t make you unsuccessful, as Mon also said. But what things indicate a successful person? That’s harder. I guess just to be motivated to advance oneself and to have goals or works that you have accomplished. It could be landing a job or getting an A or learning to play a song or improve your game in a sport.
Ok, so it turns out I liked what Monica said about almost everything in the blog. As far as levels of success are concerned, I agree with Monica when she said, “The more work that you put into something, the more fulfillment you will receive when you accomplish this goal.” I think in a way this is how failures, or unsuccessful people, are separated from those who are successful. I think never trying or setting goals is the only way you’ll never be successful. Even if you continually fail to accomplish goals, you’re bound to eventually if you work at it, like Patrick in the Spongebob episode when Patrick wins his first trophy. Those people are at least successful in continually trying despite their effort’s outcome. Someone who tries hard and reaches their goal is more successful than someone who doesn’t put any effort into something and just gets by in accomplishing their goal. I know it wasn’t really a point Erin was trying to make, but I don’t think Paris Hilton and people like her with rich parents could be considered that successful. I think only the things she might have earned herself could make her successful, and so I guess she’d be somewhat successful at selling her stuff and not getting pregnant thus far.
Whenever I can accomplish something I want to do, I feel successful. It can be as simple as waking up on time (which is actually hard for me to do) to something harder like getting a 5 on an AP test. Although I’ve failed at plenty of things and have given up on some goals, I think I’d still be successful because of all the things I have accomplished, and the fact that I’m setting more goals that I think I should accomplish in the near future. I think I need to keep having goals, like getting into a good college, graduating with the degree I want, getting a good job and then doing well in that job, etc. to maintain my “success”. As long as you don’t give up completely, however, you’re not a failure; as long as you stay motivated to accomplish bigger and better things, you’re a success.
Really the definition of success depends entirely on what type of success your talking about. Of course, there’s the obvious emotional success that everyone is willing to talk about because it makes them seem like a great person. You know, the blah blah blah, I just want to be happy, and all that normal crap.
Also to the much more stoic individual there is Financial Success. Raking in the Benjamins, being able to make the big numbers, drive that cherry red sportscar, and the big fancy house with the hot tub in the back. This view of success I don’t really give a damn about. I gave up on it a long time ago. Seriously I have little chance of spelling Rolls Roice, let alone ever driving one.
Then of course Romantic Success, meeting that right girl, buying that cute house with the picket fence and pushing out a dozen babies. I feel a great mix of desire and cynicism towards this sort of success. I mean I do believe I have a chance of finding Ms. Right, but that doesn’t mean I’m not libel to get my own little dose of high school cynicism towards the concept.
Then of course there is the much more Darwinian ideal of success. Basically this would state that the ideal goal for an individual is to pass on its own genes. That way part of you is insured to be passed on to future generations via genetic inheritance. This could be done by maximizing ones reproductive capabilities, by copulating with a plethora of genetically superior mates. To put that in layman’s terms, bang a lot of hot chicks.
Despite the fact that, banging hot chicks, finding the right girl, driving the convertible, and being happy are all concepts that are important in our Western Society, none of them are really completely necessary for success. Why, if these were the true definitions of success, then Christ himself was a complete failure.
He was not a rich man, he never even became a homeowner. He was never married, never had kids. His closest friends betrayed him so that he would be beaten and killed for no crime at all, to suffer a punishment he did not deserve, with the scorn and hatred of all who washed burning against his bear back. If you measure success by any of the world’s terms, then Jesus Christ was just a failure. He never had it easy.
Here in America success is seen as the points when life is easiest, when your doing great and everything is going for you the most, but that is not the case. Success is not about when life is easy, its about when their difficult. Success is when man stands against the backbreaking trials of adversity and really does something with his life. To not blend in with the shadows and follow blindly the orders of others but to stand strongly on your beliefs and do what’s right. To do Justice, Love Mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Throughout history some of the people who would be most successful by man’s standards, have also been by far the greatest failures as human beings. Take for instance the people of Nazi Germany. They became wealthier, they lived normal lives, they fell in love, and yet they just sat back and watched as the children of Israel were led blindly to the slaughter. Is this your standard of success? Is this the ideal for humanity? To find your own personal gain at the expense of the defenseless and the hopeless, the weak and the downtrodden. The true goal of humanity is to give of oneself for these in need and to see that one’s own existence does not merely benefit your own existence but that of those around you as well. And if that is our goal as the human race, wouldn’t the most human definition of success be to help these people, and to love them as Christ has loved us. Beyond that, all other goals are merely some sort of emotional anesthesia.
"And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Mark:34-36
Success is such a powerful word. Depending on the person that you’re talking about, success can make a person’s day or being unsuccessful could be so crippling to a person that they just give up. The worst feeling, I thing, is when you put your best into something and you think it is the best thing you’ve ever done and then being told that you stink. Well my view on success might seem a little cheesy but it is truly how I feel. I feel that the way you measure success if in two ways first is you are successful if you refuse to take no for an answer. Not in a bad way thought. If someone says top you there is no way in heck you can pass that class but then going above your limits and reaching for the peak. When doing this though there is a high chance of just falling flat on your face. This plays into my next point about success. When you have those moments where you fall flat on your face are you going to jump back up onto your feet and do something about it or are you just going to lay there and become just some more of the dirt. I have to say that I have fallen flat on my face and better yet into 8 foot deep holes both figuratively and literally. Sometimes it takes a lot of effort to be willing to get back up and face your demon. Sometimes I would just lay there for a while but I always get back up and smile in their faces. And I do that because that’s what they hate the most =]. That is my largest indicator of success both of myself and of others. If all your going to do when you fall is wallow in your own self pity then how can anything you’ve worked for be worth anything if it isn’t worth a few punches. You have to be willing to jump back on that horse no matter what the circumstances. You can’t measure someone’s success by how much they have because like I said what happens when you lose everything are you just going to lay down and die or fight for it back.
I like how monica puts a good relationship on happiness to success. Although success makes you happy despair doesn’t make you unsuccessful. I thing that completing goals and moving forward with your life without allowing emotions to slow you down is an actual success in it’s self. Emotions can change a person’s character. Stopping them from controlling your life is an amazing ability. I may fall into a million more holes but that will never stop me.
I know that I seem to start off all of my blogs with some kind of example from TV or a book or some other reference, but here I go anyway. On the show Full House, I remember one episode when Stephanie was in the spelling bee and she couldn’t remember how to spell success (which by the way, the word starts to look weird after reading 12 blogs about it). But anyway, her dad said “Double the C, Double the S, and you’ll always have success.” For some reason, whenever I hear that word, this is what comes to mind.
Like Laina, Monica, and undoubtedly many others, I see success as personal achievement. You cannot measure another person’s success because you are not them. Success is when you set goals for yourself and achieve them, whether they be something for the next day or something for ten years down the road. I think that successful people are those people who don’t give up and are constantly striving for what they want out of life. If you simply don’t try, you can never be a success because you aren’t physically succeeding or doing well at something you weren’t sure you could achieve.
I judge whether or not I am successful by accomplishing what I want out of my life. Sometimes, these goals are small, like not failing a bio test. And unfortunately, this is a quotidian (vocab!) event. One time, about three tests ago, I got a B+ and I was ecstatic. I felt so successful because I actually did something well that I was struggling with. I also feel successful in dance, like Megan says she was in the flute. When we are learning some combination that seems absolutely ridiculous and I finally get it, it feels so great because I succeeded. Sometimes success is also attributed to winning and losing whether it be sports or games of some other ilk. For example, the Girls Varsity Tennis record of 2007 was 1-15-1. That is, we won one, lost 15, and tied once (to Gami). We didn’t feel successful when we lost because even though we tried hard and worked to our abilities, we still didn’t achieve what we went in to do.
I think that there aren’t really different levels of success. There are different kinds, though. You are either successful or you aren’t, but success at waking up in the morning, like Erin said, is not the same type of success as receiving an acceptance letter from your dream school. I feel successful when I get home from dance at like 9 twice a week and somehow finish a bio assignment, history multiple choice and essays, and a stats problem of the week. This is successful to me because I got it done. Not the same success is it, though, as me applying to an amazing school and getting in. These are different types, and looking back, possibly could be a type of tiered structure, but I still believe you are either successful or not.
After all of this, I think that I need to be successful by never giving up, by never quitting at something just because it’s hard. I want to work at all of my goals and achieve them and then I’ll be successful. Yes, I want to eventually be in the top ten of the class, get into a prestigious college, and live comfortably for the rest of my life. Ultimately, if this happens, I’ll consider myself a success.
And one more thing, I just wanted to end with a quote that I like from Thomas Edison that’s kind of corny and reminds me of National Treasure:
“I didn’t fail. I succeeded.
I simply found 2000 ways NOT to make a light bulb.”
Looking at other people’s blogs have made me think of some very specific songs this topic makes me think of. First of all, Erin’s blog really made me wonder why I didn’t mention the song “Success” from Ragtime. I mean that was my song. I had it drilled into my head so much, that I have no clue why it wasn’t the first thing that came to mind at the mere utterance of the word success. I was going to write this response and just put a quote or two from that song, but then I noticed how people were talking about fun, or having a good time, and then I saw how Mister Carlton ended his blog with “I may fall into a million more holes but that will never stop me.” So I’ll just put the url for a copy of “Success” from Ragtime here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI
Honestly it is a pretty intriguing song, plus its got JP Morgan crushing poor people with a bridge. WHAT MORE CAN YOU WANT!?!?!
And then I’ll put the lyrics of a song that other people’s blogs about being happy and unstoppable made me think of:
Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time
I feel alive and the world it's turning inside out Yeah!
I'm floating around in ecstasy
So don't stop me now don't stop me
'Cause I'm having a good time having a good time
I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity
I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm gonna go go go
There's no stopping me
I'm burning through the skies Yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm trav'ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man of you
Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time just give me a call
Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time)
Don't stop me now (Yes I'm having a good time)
I don't want to stop at all
I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars
On a collision course
I am a satellite I'm out of control
I am a sex machine ready to reload
Like an atom bomb about to
Oh oh oh oh oh explode
I'm burning through the skies Yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm trav'ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic woman out of you
Don't stop me don't stop me don't stop me
Hey hey hey!
Don't stop me don't stop me
Ooh ooh ooh (I like it)
Don't stop me have a good time good time
Don't stop me don't stop me
Ooh ooh Alright
I'm burning through the skies Yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm trav'ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic woman of you
Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time
Just give me a call
Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time)
Don't stop me now (Yes I'm having a good time)
I don't wanna stop at all
La la la la laaaa
La la la la
La la laa laa laa laaa
La la laa la la la la la laaa hey!!....
So there’s your daily dose of Queen. I just had to fit that song in somewhere.
Here’s the Queen video if you want to see it, just cause its awesome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0
So I'm sitting here after my first softball game of the year. I didn't start pitching. Actually, I didn't pitch at all. I didn't play first base. Actually, I didn't play the field at all. I DH-ed for the girl who was pitching, meaning I batted for her. I went 1 for 3. I grounded out two times. Basically, at this moment in time, I'm feeling pretty unsuccessful. Which sucks. But success, to me, is that one at bat out of three that I ripped the ball. I hit a line drive right up the middle. The bat connected perfectly with the ball. It was one of those hits that Monica and I talk about "feeling good." It just "feels good" when the bat and ball meet each other over home plate. Success is winning the battle - coming back from that 1-2 count. Success is overcoming a task you didn't think you could accomplish - watching the previous three batters strike out before you step up to the plate. Success is accomplishing something you truly put your mind to - getting that hit in the first game of the season after practicing off a tee, then soft toss, then live batting during practice the day before. Success, like Megan said, is happiness.
Sure there are different types of success - but I think that in the end it all comes down to whether you have succeeded or not. Success is success and it's different to everyone. Surving cancer is just as important to someone that has had cancer as hitting a walk off homer in the bottom of the ninth of the World Series is to a professional baseball player as winning the spelling bee is to Stephanie Tanner (loved the Full House reference, Christine.) Life is made up of lots of little successes, and in my opinion, it doesn't matter how many failures you have had. You learn from each failure, and you know how to be successful the next time around. Life is about stringing together all of those successes and making them count for more than the failures.
To feel successful/see yourself as a success, you've got to have motivation. You've got to work hard and be persistent. Giving up isn't an option because what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Confidence and courage are must's and without them thrown into the equation, success cannot be the answer. After every strike out, every ground out, every watched third strike, you get back into the batters box thinking you're going to hit the ball - picturing the pitcher placing a perfect inside pitch that you can turn on and drill over the left fielder's head. Success comes from knowing you have the ability to succeed in the first place.
WHO REMEMBERS THIS FROM HESS!?...
“I come to school to learn. I believe I can be a good student. I will work hard each day to do my best. I will be proud of myself and my school. I can learn. I will learn. I will be a SUCCESS.”
For those of you who went to Hess, I’m sure you ALL remember reciting this every single morning right after the flag salute. But what were we really driving into our minds. This quotidian reciting turned our little, growing brains into robotic tape recorders. Did any of us, at that time, really know how we “will be a success?” do any of us even know now, ten years later how we WILL be a success. Are we already a success or does success just come with an occupation after college? What does it mean to be a success?
I didn’t just use a rhetorical question to transition into my answer. I am actually asking everyone what they think because I can’t seem to get my mind set on a specific, summarized definition of success. I have HAD success in a breadth of various areas. I have HAD success on tests. I have HAD success in drama. I have HAD success in elections. But AM I, or WILL I ever BE a success?
You go to a fortune teller and they say something so “predictable (haha get it!? Predictable?) like, “you will live a happy and successful life.” but what does that even mean. Do they mean that everything I try to accomplish I will succeed in? Maybe. How can I person think they are that knowledgeable and experienced that they can write an entire book on the steps that need to be taken in order to be successful. It’s just a bunch of crap. If they know what their talking about so well then how come most books like that aren’t successful in selling at all!? How ironic. If they knew how to be successful they would write a book about some juicy love story or criminal mind book; not some book on how to be a success.
A successful person, in its simplest form, knows a goal they want to reach and reach it. Judging whether or not someone is successful is more of a personal ruling. Take the hit show American Idol for example. The contestant who wins the whole show is not the only person that gets to go to bed at night and know that they are a success. Maybe the girl who made top 10 or even the guy who made it through auditioning in front of the judges was a success. Viewers at home may not realize it. They may seem the ones who get voted off as failures but, only the person, themselves, can decide if they have been successful.
When it comes to levels, yes there are different levels but the importance on those levels, once again, lies within the person. No other person can decide how important someone’s goal or level of success they have reached is. All in all, having satisfaction with yourself is all you truly need to feel successful. In any scenario, being satisfied with what you have accomplished is a huge degree of success. And to see yourself as a success is, overall simple. Don’t tear yourself apart for not being the “best” at something you have tried. Just be happy with how you personally did and if you honestly are not happy with your own results, just try again and again until you are. Then, you WILL be a success.
I would love to just give an answer like this one psychology kid wrote. The teacher told the pupils, “There is no chair,” as he pointed to a chair and told the kids to write. One kid wrote, “What chair?” and received a 100%.
So, just like the Holocaust, success doesn’t exist.
i agree with jo when she says that being successful is sometimes overrated. when she wrote, "The reason I think being successful is overrated is because you don't necessarily have to be the best at something or win something to be considered it," it supports my point about how the contestants on American Idol may not all come out as the last one standing but they all have gained their own success through the process somewhere on their journey.
Let me just start out by saying that my version of success does not equal happiness. Like Monica said, whenever someone is in a bad mood, they’re not a failure. A person can still be successful while simultaneously in a bad mood. However, usually when a person is successful at something, it puts them in a good mood. I mean, is anyone really mad if they get a 97 on a pre-calc test or nail their opening in a debate? I highly doubt it. So, let me stop rambling and get on to the actual point of this blog: my definition of success. Yet another insightful definition we AP Langers must conjure from the depths of our souls and insightful little young minds. Okay I need to stop.
My definition of success- when I accomplish something to the best of my abilities, know I put my heart and soul into it, and reap the rewards of my accomplishment. I want to be a successful person. Who doesn’t? Once I figure out what I want to do with my life, I want to put everything I have into it. That brings me to another point. I think a person really isn’t successful unless they’re doing something they’re truly passionate about. A person can be accomplished in whatever they do, but not always successful. I think there’s a difference. Because if someone’s accomplished, they basically get stuff done. If they’re successful, their heart is into it and they have no regrets. Okay, I feel like I’m not explaining this the way I want. Let me try again, and maybe use an example. Oh I can use my parents! So after high school, my mom went to business school because that’s what her parents would pay for. She went for two years, and then got a job at Harrah’s. She worked in the finance department for 12 years I think, and then stopped working when my brother was born. But she never really felt successful because she really wanted to be a teacher. So now, she’s trying to go back to school because she never had the chance to do what she really wanted to do. Now my dad, he’s a lawyer. He went to Widener after high school, played football and baseball, and stayed there for law school. He figured out what he wanted to do in college, followed his plan, and he’s really happy. He feels successful. And now, my mom’s trying to get there. Okay I know those weren’t great examples, but it was the best way I could explain what I’m trying to say.
Next question. Do I think there are levels of success? Sure. A person’s going to feel a lot more successful when they receive that big, fat envelope from Georgetown than after they finish a weekend of cleaning their closet. But hey, I could be wrong. Someone could feel exactly the same after both of those events. I just know I would feel much better about myself after getting into my dream school than having a clean closet. That’s just me.
Motivation is a big factor in success. If a person isn’t motivated to accomplish something, they’re not going to be successful. You don’t do anything, you’re not going to get anything. Simple as that. So for me, I need to be motivated. Going back to what I said before, once I figure out what I’m doing with my life, I’ll have motivation. That came out wrong. I’ll have more motivation and more drive to be successful when I know where my life is going. I’ll put all I have into my career and anything else important in my life. I’ll make good money, I’ll find a good man, and I’ll have a good life. Well, at least that’s the plan.
Success. Some people have it, some people don’t, some people think they have it, and some will do ANYTHING (myself included) to get it. I found this blog to be hard to write, because I am an absolute failure, so how on earth can I write about success? I asked this question aloud in my Biology class this morning and Rachel Carlson quickly responding to my plight by stating, “Success is 99% Failure.” Now, I have no idea what that means, but she did make me feel a little better. I read a few of the earlier blogs in order to get a feel for what I should write, and the person’s definition of success makes the most sense to me was Dave’s when he said “Success is the achievement of the goals set for ones self.” This is probably why I consider myself a failure. I have not achieved the goals I have set for myself, even though I tried my hardest. Maybe people have said that success is “working really hard and being happy and believing in yourself.” No disrespect to those that believe that, but that is major BS. Happiness is not a measure of success; happiness is a measure of happiness. It’s that simple. You could be happy and successful, or just successful, or just happy. It all depends on your situation.
Considering I know that I am virtually unsuccessful, I do seem to have some ideas what will make me successful. Going to college, having a kick butt career, making oodles of money, changing the world, falling in love and changing one person’s world, and rolling up to the “boys club” in either a Cadillac CTS or a BMW Z4.
A few weeks ago, I trekked out to Cumberland County Community College to watch of my BFFs perform in the lead role of the play How 2 Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. To quickly summarize the plot, the play is basically about a guy who uses a book to successfully climb the ladder of big business. The main character’s suave moves and charisma allowed him to move quickly and effortlessly through the ranks and finally reach the top. This instance exemplifies my view of success because it shows that it doesn’t matter how hard you work, it just matters that you achieve your goals.
I agree with Jon when he said that there were different levels of success: monetary, romantic, Darwinian, and others. I like to lump all of those together and make it one category saying “Super Successful”. That’s what I would like to be, “super successful”, not just partially.
Things that need to happen for me to be successful= G-town, love, fun, drive, and coffee.
Also, I feel like leaving off on a quote again, so this is for my good math loving friends:
“If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.”
-Albert Einstein
Four years ago for my brother’s eighteenth birthday I bought him a small 100 page book called Success: One Day at a Time. I do not think he ever ended up reading it since it has accumulated an inch thick of dust when I went looking for it tonight. I remembered on quote in the book that has stuck out in my mind since the day I bought the book for my brother and that was “Success is 99 percent failure.” I completely agree with that phrase since the day I heard it. I do believe that success is only achieved through knowing the mistakes and how to make them better. Another simple quote I found in that book was “Success is never final.” Every situation and every person I believe has a different view of success. Megan believes that as long as she is happy she is successful in life. I agree with her statement but I find those times when people, myself included, lose track of happiness and want to find success, or their goals, very badly. Those are the moments when they might have accomplished their task, but lost all they have loved in the process. I do not believe success is always a positive thing. People believe that if they could be successful and have a lot of money their life will be perfect. That is not always the case though. They might have hit their success but will want more and will lose track of what they really love and become involved with only focusing on becoming successful. I believe success is once you reach your goal and you are able stay happy in the process.
A successful person may vary from person to person. Some people believe they are successful if they are rich and some people believe they are successful if they are the greatest athletes in the world. I believe a successful person is a person who is happy with their life and will want to strive for me but will not let the power and pride get to their head. I believe I am successful if I am able to accomplish my goals and still have a smile on my face when I am all said and done. Even if I do not accomplish my goals as long as I am still happy and can appreciate my life I feel I am successful. There can be different levels of success for each person. Each category has a different level. Winning in a soccer tournament is one level of success, getting into college is another level, getting fives on the AP exam could be another level, and working on my relationship with God is another level. Each different topic and idea has different importances in my life and I have a different feeling of satisfaction when I complete each goal.
In order for me to feel successful all I need is to have a smile on my face and the determination to want to strive for my best. I could say I need nothing to make me feel successful but I am a competitive person. I do like at times receiving a first place or getting the highest grade in the class. If I am able to complete the goals I set for myself with a smile on my face, then I feel I am successful.
Okay, since I can't fall alseep early enough to wake up at 5 for the holocaust trip, I'm reading blogs. I want to comment that I was googling some quotes and found the one caitlin used, but since Bunj is anti-math, I decided against it. Also, this is ridiculous but in reference to Emrow, this quote:
"Giving up isn't an option because what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger"
makes me think of Kanye West. Haha, yeah. Just think about it .
And I like this quote from Emrow, too:
"Life is about stringing together all of those successes and making them count for more than the failures."
Jon i would just like to say, You RickRolled me goooood! =P Rick Astley For the win...
So now on to the topic at hand of success; to me success is the triumph and sensation that a person experiences when they achieve what they aimed for. As Danny said it doesn’t have to be some extraordinary achievement, but instead a small or large, depending on the person and task, goal set to be beaten. I would have to say that most of the time; this feeling of success makes someone experience good sensations and make someone happy, but this does not mean it always has such an outcome. Perhaps a person has tried to commit some kind of horrible undertaking and is successful in doing so, the repercussions could be a guilty conscious and grief. So it is still just a goal that we set out to accomplish and something that we do… well successfully.
A successful person is someone who has gotten where they have tried to go. I wouldn’t say they completed every task ever at hand, but probably more than 50% of what they set out to do. Whether they are happy or not, if they did what they strived for then they are “successful”. Do judge whether or not I am successful I just have to look at the past and the present and see where I am standing as far as personal accomplishments go. For instance, it was my goal to be on the varsity golf team, and in return for my effort and consideration for the sport and goal I am now number 2 on the team. In order to feel successful, first of all we need to be sure to set some kind of goal to complete. With nothing to go all-out for we will, as a result, lose motivation causing what could be described as failure. However, I will not go into detail as to what I consider failure because this is not what the question involves. There can be different levels of success depending on how many and how difficult the ambitions of someone may be. In order to see myself as a success I will need to make sure to never give up, and push myself the hardest I can towards what I am attempting to pull off. Sure the goal of getting a job would be more important and at a higher level than doing something like excelling at your favorite hobby. They are both important but a job is what will keep your hobby possible, because most likely it will require money to do. On the top level of importance would be of course happiness, but if you get a job that you love doing and are truly happy then it is a win-win situation. Don’t get stuck with something your not content with doing, because then in some ways you will not be successful. The most important thing to remember is keep your goals set high and strive for what you really want, then the success will mostly follow if you put your heart into it!
Ok here is a foreword written after I wrote my blog. I still believe in my anterior comment. Simply, my definition of success is a life for God and here’s some logic.
Ms. Bunje wants 450 words, approximately. But I just tried to write something again, it was almost a homily, but then it just flowed off topic toward some other lesson. I was going to use this Bible verse, Ecclesiastes 4:4, “Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.” At the end, we are not Egyptians, and we do not bring our “stuff” into the afterlife. Our “stuff” is gone and passed on to people who we never wanted to have our “stuff.”
Ecclesiastes can really be depressing and put life in perspective. Even at the end of your life, you cured cancer, built up more money than Rockefeller ever had, and had absolutely anything and everything that “success” could entail. In 200 years, will it really matter? That’s pretty much what Jon was saying with Mark 16:26, “"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” So success is meaningless during life.
And even after life you can’t succeed. Ephesians 2:8-9 says of salvation: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. So you can’t do anything for success after you die.
So if there’s no success really anywhere, what is success? I commented earlier, and that’s what I pretty much meant (minus the Holocaust). Sure, God can give you “success” in this life and you can work and receive “stuff” that can only stay on this earth. But success is faith. I have so many directions I can go, but I will follow in Martino’s steps: KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). The hallmarks of success to me are found in Hebrews 11. The “faith chapter” it is called. It lists some historic, old testament Bible heroes, like Abraham and Moses. And the key word on their success in their life was their faith. Faith, as the first verse defines it, is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” And later it says without faith you can’t please God, and pleasing God will bring “success” in this life and success forever.
So you can find “success” in your life, but what’s the point if it doesn’t matter afterword?
Christine and Kanye West. what is the world coming too???
Alright well I guess I will start this blog since I really have no choice and I hope this will all come to me as I am writing. My definition of success would have to be achieving what you want to accomplish in whatever area you may want to accomplish it in. In a way like megan was talking about, success is definitely tied in with happiness. When you succeed in something and reach that goal that you have been working so hard for you feel great inside and nothing can bring you down at that particular moment in time. I have felt successful in many things. For example, I am not the greatest person at math and I have to struggle really hard to do well. Last year I became really discouraged and gave up in a sense. I just stopped caring, but then I realized. If I give up at this what is to stop me from giving up at everything else and a quitter is one thing I am not. So I started staying after a lot and trying really hard and actually doing my homework. By now I have a 98 average in math, a feat which last year I never thought would be possible considering I had a…well let’s just say it was really bad. I feel successful in math now. Oh and Hannah should like this one. I throw for track and I will admit. I am not the greatest, but I do try. Well ever since last year I haven’t been able to really get the cross over for Jav and I just looked retarded when I threw and it never really went anywhere because there was no power behind it. Unlike math though I never gave up because I learned that that never helps you to succeed and I kept trying. Well I got it the other day and I was really really happy. To think, last year I was so horrible I wasn’t even allowed to throw in the meets, and now I’m around 4thish. Still not amazing, but It’s something and I feel like I’m starting to succeed at something other than swimming. I used to think that was all I could do but I realize now that is all I cared about doing and I never tried at anything else. In order to feel successful one needs to feel that they have achieved a great feat that they thought would be rather hard and once you feel that feeling of accomplishment you have succeeded. I would definitely say that there are different levels of achievements. Getting an A on a math test is different that getting accepted into Harvard or Med School. When I am a really really old person with wrinkles on my wrinkles I hope that I can look back and say that I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish in life. 1. get accepted into a good college, get into med school, graduate med school, and have an amazing family. Those are pretty much the aspects of my life that I want to be successful in and I know I can do it as long as I try.
My definition of success is the completion of personal goals and being satisfied with oneself. I believe that the hallmarks or trademarks of a successful person are being comfortable with oneself; you make a difference in society and live your life to the fullest. I think you can judge whether or not you are successful by whether you feel like you are or not because if you let someone else judge they will bias to say that they are most successful even though you both have different standards and qualities that matter the most. I think there are different levels of success, but not importance because I believe that it is important for everyone to be successful no matter how or why. I think that there are different plaques like one for millionaires who the most important thing might be if the divided up their money successfully or if their spent their money and gave back enough during their lifetimes. Then there are your common folk who those being judged if they were successful might be how they raised their children or how well they did their jobs through out their lives. I believe that the way for me to judge my success is if I can stand back and look at my life and feel that my brother would have been proud of me. I believe since my brother never got to live out his life and dreams that if I live out all of mine to the fullest that I am actually living life for him. Things I want to accomplish most are properly raising a farm, living out my career in golf to maybe go pro one day, to be happy where ever I end up and to do all of the trill seeking adventures that I have dreamed about during my life such as skydiving. I fully agree with Danny and Pete because even if not everyone becomes rich someday or lives in a fancy house, it can be the little things that make feel as if you were successful in all that you do. A trash man can be just as successful as a millionaire if being a trash man is what the person strives to be and gives it their all every day. Success is something where even the little man can come out on top as long as their happy. I know personally if I had a family I would not need to hear from other people that I was successful as long as my kids and my wife were proud of me and I was able to provide for them in the best way possible.
If you've been to the athletic wing of our high school, then you know the sign that hangs at the end of the hallway. "Only in the dictionary does success come before work." I look at this quote every time I walk into the girls’ athletic locker room. To me this is the major definition of success obviously in the form of a quote. Success is achieving a goal, big or small, through hard work and/or determination.
A successful person doesn’t necessarily have to be the richest person or the smartest. A successful person can be anyone who achieves something of importance to them. I wouldn’t consider someone successful who didn’t do anything, but someone who worked hard and got where they wanted.
I’m having trouble writing this blog. I keep thinking about other things, and then I look at my computer and I’m reminded that I have to get back to my blog. Somehow, though, I’m going to tie in the things I keep thinking about into this blog.
I started my blog with the sign that is in the athletic wing, which makes me think about field hockey and football. To be a success in field hockey, I know I have to work hard, train hard, and play hard. I can’t step on the field and automatically assume success. It’s impossible – unless you’re a prodigy and then you’re just lucky. Success in field hockey is the same for every sport. After thinking about athletics and success, I began thinking abut all my friends in athletics such as Rebecca and James who’ve all had success in not only sports but in other things as well. Rebecca, for example, described in her blog how she succeeded in achieving her goal at being given the solo part for The Circle of Life. Rebecca loves The Lion King and she loves to sing. So, she worked hard, got the lines of solo down pact, and sang her heart out. She came out a success. Now James, well his success hasn’t come to him yet, but it will soon. Since he apparently mentioned me in his occasional paper today, I told him I would mention him in my blog. It’s only fair. So, we all know now that James and I are, like, “talking.” Whatever that means. Anyway, he’s pretty determined, I’d say, to get this thing going and so am I.
I don’t really know where I’m going with all this anymore. I do hope that James will feel like the most successful person eventually… I know being successful is like winning a game, the game of life. I know I feel successful when I take a challenge or a goal, and if I work hard and stay determined to finally overcome that challenge or achieve that goal I feel powerful and confident and that I can take on anything. I’d agree in different levels of success. Now James’s soon to be success is at a different level than success in field hockey, or in his other current case, baseball. Every journey to achieving success holds different importance to people. Even if it’s the same task, the level of importance may vary among people. I know for a fact that being successful in field hockey is out of this world important to me than it is to other teammates.
In the end, hard work and determination is needed to ultimately become a success in anything no matter how silly as starting a relationship or as major as getting a degree in college. However, without confidence, no one will be able to believe in themselves that they have what it takes to succeed.
Success to me is becoming a rich and famous actress in Hollywood. Success to me is also being a well-paid dentist. Because acting is my passion in life, I'd love to pursue it. I can't wait for the day when kids scream my name when I walk by, begging for my autograph. Seeing my name on the big screen or glittering in lights is something I wish could happen. If that didn't happen, I'd pursue the career of being a dentist. Since I have a habit of being all in people's "grill", that career choice would be splendid. Since I have a dream of becoming either one of those, success for me is achieving my goals. I don't think there are different levels of success; success is success. Whether you audition for the lead role in a play and make it, or become partner in a prestigious law firm, it is all success. To judge whether you are successful or not, simply realize this fact. If you have a dream for something, or work hard and it pays off and you meet you goal or dream, you are successful. This is with anything. No one can judge success except "you". I can't tell someone they are not successful because they earned a "B" average in high school. If that was their goal, and if it was achieved, then they are a success.
I like what Laina said about even small things like waking up on time is a success. When it comes to that, I feel like a failure because I am habitually late to school. I’m getting tired of sitting in those cramped and congested late detentions, and evidentially, they aren’t teaching me a lesson, because just today made my 19th late!
Returning to the thought of what you need to have success, you’ll need confidence. With out it, no one will recognize how successful you are. In addition to confidence, being determined as well as a hard worker can usually bring you success.
For the longest, I’ve planned to have a 4.0 GPA when it’s time to apply for college. So far, I’m there, its just time to maintain it throughout the rest of my junior and the beginning of my senior year. As long as I work hard and refrain from lacking off, I should be there. I’ve taken my pills for senioritis, so that shouldn’t arise in the future. Who knows, it may creep up on me. All I know is that I definitely want a full ride to college somewhere nice. Heck, I’ve been striving and excelling for a long time now, it better pay off. Since the days of S.E.E.K, I’ve known I was a smart cookie. (Anyone who went to Hess back in the day would know exactly what I’m talking about.)
Anyway, I’ve succeeded in a lot that I wanted to accomplish. During my entire high school “career”, I’ve been on the high honor roll with great grades. That’s success. I love success, but then again, who doesn’t. I can’t wait for the day when I tell my very first patient to open is or her mouth for their first dentist appointment. That’s when I’ll know that I am successful.
Thanks to Ragtime whenever I hear the word success the song “Success”. A weird connotation to tie to the word but hey I’m me and don’t care but to be success depends on the person to be successful doesn’t necessarily mean wealth. Since wealth can be obtained in multifarious ways such as selling drugs, earning an inheritance, or winning the lottery. See wealth indicates luck or smarts but success on the other hand deals with the achievements and goals a person sets for them. If my main focus is to complete high school and I do so then I am successful. Of course there are different levels success since people set higher goals for their selves. Some people dream of being a movie star such as halle berry of course that’s more of an success than getting your first job but the feeling you get from this I think is the same. Success is what gives people the drive to continue to be the best that they can be. Whenever I am asked for how I see myself in the future I always say successful. And what is my idea of success. Having completed pharmaceutical school I will be living in a nice sized house with my well-employed husband and a few children. This is success to me because I realize that all my hard work has paid off and that is why I’m able to live the way I do. You cannot judge success because the way people see the idea of success is totally different even as I am writing this paper I am fighting with the idea of whether or not there are levels of success. As for people writing books or how to be successful I think that is ridiculous honestly. You cannot give people the key to success. Success is what you make of it. You can wish people success though. Personally if you are living a stable and righteous life and are able to support yourself and do something that makes you happy without breaking the law then you are successful. I will write a little more after the trip because right now its 1240 and I have to get up at 5.
Success? Posterized in numerous ways, in multiple clichés on the walls of Oakcrest, it is captivated by some irrelevant picture like a rose or a gold course. To me, success is the best feeling in the world. It is a feeling unlike no other, when you can put your mind to something and accomplish it, whether people told you it was impossible or not. As often, I can most accurately relate this blog to baseball because I live it. I absolutely love the sport, and welcome it with open embracing arms when April rolls around. The sound of the bat connecting with the ball, the echoing pop of a fastball as the catcher squeezes for a called third strike, just on the outside corner. “But I digress…”
Success is not just one solid tangible thing, but a combination of both concrete and abstract fundamentals and ideas. It is not something that will EVER come easy, and if it does, that task was too easy. Success requires work, dedication, approach, desire, and confidence. These frequently used “character words” describe the function of what most be done to be successful. When I think of success, I think of baseball. The passion of my life, baseball is a sport where in order to win, you must be successful. A gameplan is necessary, quenching the need for a organized and logical approach. You have to know the situation at hand before you can embark on the journey.
The dedication and work ethic come as a pair, stride for stride, tit for tat, balancing each other out in the battle of epic proportions. To be successful you must follow the gameplan, proving that the dedication is key. Once the dedication is established, along comes the work ethic, the drive to stick with the plan, even when things are down. And when things are down, a desire to win is of utmost necessity.
Nobody will ever get anywhere without the desire to be successful. There has to be a fire in the pit of your stomach, no mater how big or small, but enough to force you to stay focused, and want to win, in the now.
Concerning the different levels of success, I must say I believe there are none. However I do think that there are different levels regarding the task at hand, but if one can be successful, they have done what is required. I am trying to say that upsetting a number 2 seed in the NCAA March Madness tourney, (props to Davidson) can not be compared to getting a 100 on a math test. Now, in my mind, it is not as complicated as it may seem. The act of upsetting a powerhouse and acing a test can be compared, because they do not seem proportional, but the result, moving on to the elite 8, or boosting our average from a B to an A are equal, because, in each circumstance, success was achieved.
“Success is winning the battle - coming back”-emrow
I couldn’t agree more with rowboat on this one, success is winning the battle. Success will never even be close enough to get a whiff if you cannot have enough motivation and persistence to “keep on truckin’.” You have to want it to win it.
Success is more of a feeling of self worth and I think that it has more to do with self esteem than anything else. For example, the key holder at my job would view himself as successful because he gets done the tasks that need to be done in order to stay alive and holds down a comfortable living space while having a good time. However, others may look at him and view him as unsuccessful because he works at a five below making little over minimum wage and living in a house that looks much less like the single family homes that are so abundant in Mays Landing. As we live life, we will all grow up and obtain jobs and careers and even if we aren’t completely satisfied with what we become in the future (let’s face it, no one ever really is), we can all be truly successful if we accept who we have become.
I look in the mirror and say, “This is who I am. I do my best and when I don’t do my best, I do what feels right.” To me life is about having fun so if I grow up to be a waitress or a retails sales person, a philosopher or a scientists, as long as I am having fun in my life, I will consider myself truly successful. Making a lot of money isn’t what makes life great, but it sure helps, which is the reason people like to get the best education they can and try to get great careers. This will enable them to proliferate with ease and give their new family a comfortable life or share their home with friends and do what ever is necessary to have a good time.
It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around levels of importance because I see success as more of a mental step process to maturity. I’m not sure of all the steps because as an adolescent, I have not undertaken many of these steps yet myself, but I think that when we all fully mature, we will view the world so much more differently than the way we see it now and with that new perspective often comes an acceptance for ourselves and our surroundings. The acceptance will bring a satisfaction for living in the day and each and everyone of us will look around and say “This is the world, it’s not perfect, I’m not perfect, but it’s not too bad, and I’m not too bad.” The satisfactory feeling of our lives is what really determines how we each view success and we can all be successful no matter what career we stumble upon.
I’m not sure if a lot of this makes sense, but I think my point is that you don’t have to be a rocket scientists or a lawyer that graduated from Harvard to be successful. You just have to be content with who you are and what you do, whatever that may be.
Success for me is broken into two main categories, the material and the immaterial. Material success would be going to college for free landing that high-powered job and pulling in obscene amounts of cash. This type of success is easily quantified and measured (Material success= Amount of stuff x Net Worth), but as both Gary and Jon have both stated very plainly this type of success is immaterial. Consider the life of Cyrus the Great, emperor and founder of the Persian Empire, was undoubtedly materially a very successful person probably more so than any sane person can reasonably dream of today, he founded one of the richest and most powerful empires in ancient times, arguably one of the most able rulers in history, today he is nothing the empire he found was conquered two hundred years after his reign, he is only remembered by those who feel a need to study the past. Cyrus is dead and all the wealth and power he acquired amounted to nothing.
Immaterial success is equally easy to define and I think that Jon captured the essence of what it is very nicely “To not blend in with the shadows and follow blindly the orders of others but to stand strongly on your beliefs and do what’s right. To do Justice, Love Mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Although immaterial success is easily defined it is not easily acquired, it’s often too easy to sacrifice principle in the name of expediency or the possibility of immediate or future gain. So I guess I believe there are levels of success, as for the importance of those levels I place more importance on the immaterial success. Immaterial success is nearly impossible for anyone to judge impartially. Every human is biased one way or another on this point; I suppose the best measure of this success is a sense of fulfillment, knowing that right was done. But this is impossible to quantify and is even for the purpose of qualitative analysis fairly unimportant.
For me to be a successful person, which I defiantly am not for both types, I will defiantly need to be more proactive, to often I sit back and let life happen which does not bode well for the acquisition of stuff and also means letting opportunities to do the right thing pass me by. I will also need to be less lazy and irresponsible, which bodes poorly for the acquisition of material success and is rarely the right thing to do. So many of the things that will help my immaterial success will also lead to material success.
Oh, of course Mike, Cyrus the Great. I was gonna mention him to bu then I realized I've never heard of him in my entire life. Hmmm, guess that ruins my plan.
Success is not running the one-mile in five minutes. Success is not getting to see your name up in lights. Success is not even, dare I say it, getting a five on your AP exam. No, success has nothing to do with what you achieve. Rather, it deals entirely with how you achieve it. Success is being able to reach your full potential.
A successful person knows where they are going. They have plans and ambitions which they have every intention of achieving. Motivation and determination are two essential characteristics of success. I believe that in order to truly be successful, you need to put forth effort. A person may naturally be a fast runner and get great times without really trying, but that does not make them a success because it is not their best. To be a success, they would have to train and work hard to push themselves. Only then can they be successful due to the fact that they are reaching their full potential. A successful person works hard to achieve what they want.
But not everyone has to break a sweat in order to catch up with success. Some people know they have succeeded when they feel accomplished, that they have truly reached their goal. There is no shortcut to this method. You can act like you are the best, but you’re not fooling yourself. You’re a success when you cross boundaries. A sure sign of this is when people comment on how they “can’t believe you did that”. It proves that you’ve overcome the limits that people have placed on you and sets you up for greater opportunities to chase your goals.
To feel successful, I do not need a big house or lots of money. Others may need this to feel good about themselves and that’s okay, but I’m just not a very materialistic girl. To feel successful, all you need- here comes that age-old quote- all you need is love. I think I need the encouragement and praise of others to feel like I’ve actually succeeded. But even more importantly, I need the self-satisfaction of knowing that I have. Otherwise, I would feel like I was opening a present that wasn’t mine- I wouldn’t deserve the congratulations.
Seeing myself as a success is a hard thing to comprehend. I always think of successful people of being older and well established in their career, but I guess there is no reason why a junior in high school can’t be a success too. I don’t know if I’ll ever look in a mirror and automatically see success staring me back in the eye because I’m not really arrogant at all. I will, however, need to work as hard as I can in order for me to see myself as a success. I know there is no other way for me. If I’m not struggling in some way that usually means that I’m becoming complacent and not really caring any more. So, as long as I’m looking to achieve my full potential, I need to work hard and keep a steady confidence level.
Well, it’s very ironic that this weeks blog question is about success because last week I took this very random survey on myspace and one of the questions was “Do you feel that you've ever had a truly successful relationship?” If I’ve ever had a successful relationship wouldn’t that mean that I would still be with them?…WAIT what the heck is a successful relationship anyway! I honestly never considered the idea that relationships could actually bee successful. As if communication could be judged on the grounds of success. I just wanted to interject that out to all the bloggers who may have taken the same survey. =)
Success would be anything that in some form can give yourself or others a sense of pleasure or pride. Personally I like to hear success stories. It makes me feel like I can make it too! Some successful people would be Oprah, Neil Armstrong, Bill Gates, and Celia Cruz. They’ve managed to influence people in dramatic ways by doing what they do and going over and beyond the minimum call. They managed to make a lot of money while doing so, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that success is directly tied to making a lot of money. I do think that there are a lot levels of success and that’s the success someone receives within themselves when they feel that they’ve tried as hard as they could to get something accomplished; and whether or not they achieve that goal doesn’t matter as much there was a bigger gift received at the end. An example of this would be competition season last year. We won almost every competition before championships. We wouldn’t say that we deserved everyone of those wins, but I know that at championships we poured our hearts out on the filled. I honestly thought Hanna was about to have an Asthma attack when she got off the field! We ended up 2nd place and we were all really disappointed we didn’t get 1st, but we were so proud of ourselves and Mr. Tobias was really proud of us as well. We were happy with our performance and deemed it successful because we got on the field, marched our butts off.
“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then Success is sure.” - The Notebook. I can agree and disagree in so many ways. I think Twain is totally right in his statement, but the reality of it is that ignorance and confidence will only get you to a false sense of success. False in a sense that there’s no growth that takes place because there’s no tribulation to go through. I think in order for someone to acquire success someone has to overcome a challenge. You would need consistency and motivation as well to be successful.
I completely disagree with Kylies idea that selling drugs can be successful….last time I checked drugs were bad….
Caitlin, I think you’re successful <333
After reading every single blog before mine, I have determined that my fellow classmates are AMAZING. I completely agree with everyone even though they don't necessarily agree with each other.
Okay. Back to the blog. So, I think this is a bit weird, but I agree with a combination of Dave's and Megan's definitions of success. I think that overall success is measured by how happy one is. But I also think that in order to be happy, one must achieve realistic goals or benchmarks that they have set for themself. For example, at Mr. Oakcrest I was given the very difficult job of distributing the microphones to the emcees and the contestants (ask anybody who was backstage, that job was hard). My job was basically "don't screw up or the whole school will hate you for ruining Mr. Oakcrest," according to Joe Leyenaar. So, in order to be successful and happy and not hated by the entire school, I needed to achieve my goal of distributing all microphones to the correct people at the correct times.
I guess a more clear example of this would be Cyrus the Great...just kidding. But, seriously, take a look at the movie "Shrek." At first, Shrek's goal was to get his swamp back by rescuing the princess for Lord Fahrquaad. However, this did not make Shrek happy because his goals changed from not only getting his swamp back but to winning the princess's heart as well. After achieving both of his goals, Shrek became happy with his life and thus successful. And, as you can see through the Shrek example, it doesn't matter what attributes you may have, anyone can be successful at something.
So, in order to be successful, one must define what success actually is. Is it running a sub-five minute mile? Is it making a six figure salary? Is it getting a 2000 on the SAT? Everyone's definitions of success in a given area are different because what we want to get out of ourselves is different.
Some people are only capable of so much in sports, for example, and, so, success to them will be much different from a seasoned veteran's definitions of success. In the NFL, rookies generally look forward to simply making a team. On the other hand, a fifth year player will look forward to a larger contract.
I judge my own success based on what i know I am capable of doing. In soccer, if I have an off game but we win, I look at my own performance as a failure but the team's performance as a success. This is because I know that I am capable of performing better on the field and you can't get anything better than a win. Like the guy from that leadership conference thing said (I think his name was Mr. McGuey or something like that...Christine shold know.), even though it seemed like he lost in the arm wrestling contest, his goal was to get pinned, which is why he was successful. However, the person who was arm wrestling against him wanted to pin him, which is why he was successful. Thus, it was a win-win and both people were successful and happy. I feel like I should just end my blog there because that guy was THE MAN.
Success... Which is a 7 letter word that begins with an "S" and ends with an "s". I know that I am just pointing out the obvious but there is an underlying meaning. Let the first 'S' represent where someone starts out. In order to be successful, one must make it to the last 's'. However, it's not that simple. The 'u' is pretty tricky and if you're not careful you could fall in. The 'c's are also another obstacle on your path to success. I don't want to even get started on the 'e' that's an intense step. But the second to last 's' is the most difficult. It's similar to what you're striving to reach but not quite. It may seem like the end but there is still that swirl about the 's' that could throw people off. However, if someone does, in fact, make it to that final 's' they will become successful. Wow, i just made that up off of the top of my head. Hopefully it didn't sound too bad.
Anyway... my definition for success is living a pretty good life. If you're 100 years old and you can honestly say that you don't regret anything too drastic or whatever, that's what I think success is. But that's long term success i suppose. But success in general i think is just being content. If you like where you are and wouldn't change anything, I believe that is successful. However, somethings that are usually a mark of someone being successful are having loads of money, a high paying job, and a perfect family. Well that's probably a best case scenario. Personally, I wouldn't trade my family in for anything else. Not because my family is perfect since we're far from that. I wouldn't trade them because all of our imperfections combine to make my family unique from anyone else's. I'm somewhat rambling but oh well.
My way of judging if I am successful is if I'm happy with the end result. Say for example, my soccer team wins 7-6. We would still get the 'W' but I would feel terrible because i would have surrendered 6 goals. That's not good. But, if we lose to a really good team 1-0, i wouldn't feel too bad because I tried my best. Sure I would be mad about losing but if we played our best and lost, than the other team deserves to win perhaps.
In order for me to see myself as a success, I must be able to look back on what i've just done and feel content. If i think that could have done better, then that won't sit well with me. I have to do my best and not regret it in order for me to see my self as a success. it sounds kind of lame but that's the truth.
Oh and before i wrote this i watched about 5 queen videos. Thanks Jon.
I hate success. I'm sure that doesn't sound like me at all and I would completely agree. It's not success necessarily that I hate, it's just the stupid word. For some reason it comes with thoughts of business and, as some of my classmates previously mentioned, with people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump. This connection just makes the word seem, I don't know, I guess less attractive.
Victory. Now that is a word I can relate to my life. Yes, this is probably because I'm a big sporty jock but whatev. Success just seems too cliche as Darrell proclaimed the hallways to be, and it is just unattractive.
I always see "successful" people with great high-paying jobs and respectable careers but with consequences. They have successful business lives but sacrifice family life for their career and are usually unhappy. Now this isn't the case with all "successful" people, but I think that's part of the reason I'm put off by the word success.
If i must use success, however, I would have to say it can be accomplished by more than one way. Yes, you can be a success without winning, at least in some circumstances. The most obvious one is winning, but if you win, and do it by deceiving or cheating then you weren't truly successful. Acheiving goals, having fun, and being happy is a success in my book.
There are successes in each part of life. There are those who get good grades in highschool and graduate from a good college and enter into a great career. But, to me, this means nothing if you're not happy. For my life to be successful, I need to like my job if not love it, have a great wife with the best marriage any man could hope for (no problem =p), and have no regrets.
Ah, I agree with Laina, to begin with. Another weighty blog issue, with a definition required, no less. Yes, all things considered, these are the more thought-provoking of the blogs we are assigned, and, admittedly, provoking thought is the reason for this blog's existence. But, as you did, Ms. Bunje, I am digressing while really not digressing, as my tangent has not detracted from any stunning insights because I have not unveiled any yet. This is my first blog entry on an Apple iPhone, and hopefully my last, as I much prefer both typing on the computer and doing so under comfortable time restrictions. Ooh, and I'm not really the fan of receiving text messages (Caitlin's) while I'm blogging. ...okay, so I'm lying a little. I am infatuated with the iPhone and am gleaning some measured enjoyment out of this situation. It would be more enjoyable were it not tempered with some awkward typing issue and the knowledge that I could type proportionately faster on a computer. And were it not for the obscene loudness behind me on this post-DC tour bus.
But, anyway. I continue to digress, so I shall begin. I also did a bit of possibly teen-angst propogated exaggeration when I said by lippy bit about the definition-based prompt. I'm looking forward to typing this blog response, because success is such a dynamic and multilayered concept, and I feel like it's another one that is supremely twisted in high school.
Success cannot be measured by any physical manifestations, I don't think, because success is a feeling. One of the sad cliches college admissions are forced to abscribe to. Often, success is correlated to accomplishment, so they do get this right. However, success is contentment. It is working up to or surpassing your expectations for yourself. A so-called "accomplished" person, if they have not been working up to what they feel is their epitome of potential, the peak, the climax to which their ability and passion can drive them, they may not feel successful at all.
Example: today, on the tour bus on our way to and from DC, we were watching Family Guy. Now, I am Stewie. I am Stewie to the T. Frothing with anger, rife with an awareness of the absurdity of the world around me that makes it difficult for me to take anything too seriously (yes, I took that line from Nora Ephron. I LOVE HER.), but, at the root of it all, a genuinely conerned and thus perpetually discontent idealist. Anyway, so, <3 Stewie. But we were watching an episode of Family Guy where Stewie meets himself in thirty years to absolute horror. While this grown-up Stewie could in loosely fitting, general terms be coined a "success," he is in no way content with the person he has become.
My definition, personally, of success is to stay/perpetuate my ideals of being a raging intellectual wordsmithy maniac, maybe change the world, and live an epic life or die an epic death.
Example: This is actually from today, the DC
Success. An indefinable word due to the reason that everyone has a different definition for it. This word is under Zander’s official list of indefinable words. Success to many it an happiness, could be singing, could be drama, and could be eating a giant pie of pizza. It doesn’t matter what it is. I believe success may be the effect of overcoming a task, whether it is an easy task or a david-verse-golithe task. Who really cares what the task is. But there is always the secret success. Oh yes the secret success you never see until the end. Many movies have this type of ending such as Ocean County with jack black. Many of the Disney and children movies have this secret success for the main character. Secret success is when you have successfully overcome a more significant trial of your life, without figuring it out until the end or not even at all. This moment where you have a revelation or figured it out, you may have failed at another task or successfully overcame another task. No matter what happens the secret success is ultimately more important in about 99.9% of the time. Success doesn’t necessarily mean it was a positive feat. You could of lied cheated or stole. Success is among the words that fall under the category of temptation. The dream of being successful may of changed your reasoning and it ,as in a material success, tests your character. Sometimes you have to step back and see if your happy without actually being successful. For example, in the movie Ocean County this kid just wants to go to Stanford for college. He doesn’t get in. So what he does is he figures out all possible ways to go to Stanford. He then rights a book and hands it in to the author of the book that inspired him to go to Stanford. By then of the movie he gets a one on one interview with the author. The author explains what he think is so amazing about the book and the storyline. Now he gets into Stanford. But when arriving home he realizes he doesn’t want to go to Stanford anymore because he now has a revelation that what he has at home and what is around him is what is going to make him happy. Ahh success equaled him getting into Stanford and secret success equals he doesn’t need Stanford to be happy. Like megan said success is what we all yearn for. But we don’t need success to be happy in our lives. Success, secret success, who needs them. As long as you have no regrets and you are happy in life, then you are truly successful.
i must say, my favorite blog yet
This is not my first response to the blog this week. I wrote something totally different, twice actually, ate dinner, and finally settled on this response:
Success is reaching a goal, whether it is as small as loosing a few pounds, or being a doctor when you grow up. Whatever is may be, fulfillment of that dream/goal is success. Some people are “born to succeed, meaning that they are naturally motivated to succeed at everything, and then there are people who need help to reach their goals. There will always be people in your life who hold you down, and the most important ingredient of success is surrounding yourself with people that will help you to reach your goals and constantly motivate you to succeed.
In society, there are different levels of success. The class levels, such as lower, middle and upper, are just examples of that. I feel that there are no levels of success. Each goal may be bigger and harder to obtain, but each success is just as important and the next.
I agree with Bunje when saying everyone’s success is different. As for those who buy the books in the stores to “teach” them to succeed, they may all have different stories. Maybe they are having trouble finding their way to succeed and they do not have that group of people pushing them forward. Maybe they need a new outlook on things to help them succeed further. Or maybe they know how to succeed, but aren’t confident enough and need something to fall back on. Whatever the case may be, the books sell, so they must be doing something right. As a matter of fact, I have a few in my house right now.
I could not have said it better then Danny Lang. My two versions of my answer prior to this specifically stated that I do not believe success has anything to do with material things, especially money, but your character. Mr. Lang was correct in saying success has a lot to do with happiness. If you are not happy with how you have done, you have not succeeded. I would not say failed, but not fully succeeded nonetheless. The only part of Dannyboo’s answer that I disagree with is that you are all you need to succeed. I really do believe you need at least one person behind you pushing you on. Sometimes that is a negative person that you are trying your hardest to prove wrong or be nothing like, or maybe it is a positive person, pushing you on the entire time. Whichever it may be, there is always someone in the background.
This was really really hard Bunje, good job. I bet Monica is cursing you right now :)
No matter what situation you are in you want to succeed. Everyone wants to achieve success. Succeeding can be as simple as finishing your homework on time or as complicated as getting a prom date. (hehe Leslie) You can succeed in achieving a goal or even in failing. If you achieve your goal you succeed because you did exactly what you were trying to, you set you mind to something and you did it. Failure can be considered successes when you walk away from your crash to rock bottom with a lesson learn. All in all success can be described as leaving a situation with something gained whether it is the feeling of accomplishment or a new life lesson. You do not have to be an all around successful person in order to succeed.
A successful person has to have certain characteristics in order to be considered truly successful. Someone can pass all of their tests with a perfect score or memorize every single one of their texts books but if they go and brag and put others down, they fail. A successful person has to be humble or everyone else will see them as annoying or rude and they can end up becoming a social failure. A successful person also has to be determined. In order to succeed you have to keep trying even when nothing seems to be going your way. You have to consistently keep your head up high and keep doing the best you can.
I try my best to stick to these characteristics to continue to be a successful person. I am consistently looking at myself through a mirror thinking about what I do and the way I do it analyzing all of my mistakes or failures and seeing how I can turn them around and into a success. I feel most successful when I solve a challenging problem all by myself. This seems to be a lot more spirit lifting than scoring a date with the cutie in my AP lang class. Judging my success is not something I can do without being too harsh on myself. I want so badly to achieve all of my goals and learn everything I can on the way. When this desire does not go as planned I blame myself. In order to see myself as a success I almost always have to achieve something. I can turn things around but that is so much harder for me to do. But isn’t that the case with everyone? It is so much harder to be proud of yourself for losing and learning something along the way than it is to be proud for winning.
I agree with Laina about how even something as simple as waking up on time can be consdered a success. It is the little things like that that we miss too often.
=D
I have to say that Rebecca totally stole my idea of success=singing, but since my ideas of singing ties in with another idea of mines I’ll go with that instead. Well in my words I think success really ties in with “the impossible.” If you think about it people usually feel successful when they accomplished something that others have failed to succeed in. If a teacher tells their students, “This is a really hard test, so take your time,” than when you ace it you would feel a sense of accomplishment, rather than if your teacher says that’s an easy A to get.
The impossible, especially in teenage years, would make teenagers rebel. Teens have been known for their rebellious stages, their hot headed thoughts, and their stubborn attitudes. Making the impossible hard to reach would further encourage teens to try harder and when they succeed it’s more of an accomplishment. For Rebecca, she tried hard for many years to get to the place where she is now, she feels a deeper sense in accomplishment and a deeper joy in how hard she had to work. But if we put her in a situation where the whole Oakcrest population sang horribly, I don’t think she would feel as successful as she does now. True, it’s still a bit of success, but not at the level that she’d want it to be. I’ve heard Rebecca sing in Chemistry class every week and I envy her voice, it’s filled with deep passion and happiness and I think she deserves to feel a great accomplishment.
I feel successful when I ace tests and quizzes that prove to be difficult, I feel successful when I sing well, it’s all the little things that are “difficult” that makes a person feel successful. It’s the thought that you did something worth wild that makes you successful. The everyday obstacles that we face is a test for us to pass and a chance to feel like you did something to prove to yourself that you did it. Like what Megan said in her blog, success is something everyone yearns for. Everyone wants to feel a sense of accomplishment in their lives and that’s all of us AP Langers too. ^^ And do you know what will make all of us feel even more successful? Getting a five or a four on the AP English Exam! So after that day is over, we can all walk around with little successful stickers on our shirt saying, “Hey I’m successful!”
But I think I’d feel a little more successful if my blog isn’t a little later than usual. Hehe, sorry the stupid internet died on me earlier and I couldn’t get on until 8:40. T_T
Before I start, I would just like to say that I found it extremely funny that after reading the question, I looked down at the desk my computer sits on and noticed a print-out for a college I am looking at, where the slogan is "We Teach Success." On this note, I shall now transition to my blog response.
What is success? Success, to me, is the feeling that you have accomplished something in a manner that not only feels correct but is actually correct. Pre-Calculus is a prime example. Recently, I took a quiz that I zipped through with ease. "This is great," I had thought to myself. "I'm sure I'll get an A." However, a few days later, the quiz was handed back to me with a big, fat 68 on it. This is not a success, though it had previously felt like one.
Another example, for me anyway, would be trail riding. Over the weekend, I went to a dude ranch with some of the Farmettes (The Farmettes is what I call my friends at the farm). It was an extremely Western farm with "cowboys" (I use quotes because I assure you, some were imposters or poseurs) and western saddles galore, so a trail ride was bound to be inevitable, no matter how much I whined, cried, or tried to hide. (Recall, friends, that I, the seemingly fearless Courtney, am deathly afraid of trail due to previous bad experiences) So, when the time came to mount up, I fidgeted a little in my seat but soon came to trust my professional mount, Pepper. The first trail ride was uneventful, and I must admit, halfway decent. The second trail ride was the same. The third, however, was when all hell broke loose. This was considered (unbeknownst to me) to be an "advanced" trail ride. Had I known that this ride was to be classified as such, I would never have climbed aboard Sierra, my new, seemingly trustable mount. To make a long story short, we were asked to canter on trail. To recap: I hate trail. Cantering is hard, especially when paralyzed by fear. And as it turned out, Sierra was NOT a trustable mount, when it came to cantering. When the dreaded gait was cued, Sierra exploded forward, hurtling at full speed, right on the butt of the horse in front of us. My efforts to slow the maniac down were futile, so I tried to angle her to the side of the other horses to avoid getting kicked (This tactic only lead to reprehension from one of those "cowboys"). Sierra eventually stopped, but all the other horses had to first. I scowled all the way back to the ranch, lied when I answered the question "Did you enjoy your ride?", dismounted, and stormed over to my mother. I discussed with her, in a low voice, the traumatic event. When I was finished, she said to me, "Well, Courtney, at least you tried it. That's a success, if you ask me." I looked at her in utter disbelief. Though I had finished the trail ride, and rode out the horrid canter, the ride did nothing more than annihilate whatever meager confidence I had formed in trail riding. This was no success, because though I did everything correctly, I did not feel successful.
So when have I experienced success? There has been several times: grades, training, shows. Success is when, in just three days, Owen went from kicking out whenever cued to trot, to trotting effortlessly and not stopping until asked. Success is when a full marking period of stress and hard work lead to straight As. Success is when I'll be standing in front of my own farm one day. Success is when I'll come home from a trail ride smiling. I will feel successful, and be successful.
I agree with Rebecca that success has a lot to do with confidence. But I also think, contrary to her opinion, that success can be reached without inspiring words from others. My Mom hates Owen. Depressing, yes, but I can deal with this. No matter what feats I may accomplish with this awesome horse, my mother simply doesn't care, because she believes I should be riding some flashy Quarter Horse that can jump the moon. According to her, a draft like Owen could never take me where I want to go. It is these thoughts that drive me to my successes, that I take one step at a time. We covered respect on the ground first, than trotting (alone first, then with other horses), trail riding has been thrown in (however disconcerting it may be for me), and now we are working on cantering and jumping. All of these successes (and any progression, to me, is a success) have occurred in a manner of just a few months. Imagine what will be accomplished before I go to college. I know I can do it, and that's all I need to succeed.
Ms. Bunje, when you said there are a lot of individual ideas of what success can be defined as, I couldn't agree with you more. To me, success is the ability to accomplish a set goal. I believe that every human being sees success in a different form, depending on who they are and what they want out of life. I guess for me success has always been expected. I had high standards set for me by my not only my parents, but myself as well. I'm not the most dedicated or determined person, though, which is the thing that complicates my life the most. I know in my mind that I am capable of so much, yet sometimes I lack the drive to accomplish my goals and my dreams really really really bad. However, I feel like a successful person has to undergo troubles and obstacles before they reach where they want to be. True success is not attained without the gaining of knowledge and wisdom while getting there. As long as you learn from them along the way, I believe that your mistakes will make you a more successful person. If you apply them as wisdom and use that to acheive your goals, one will be a successful person without a doubt. To me, I feel like I would be successful with an amzing family (which I have ), a few true best friends, my first job choice as an owner of a dress boutique, a sufficcient amount of money, and a smile on my face. There are definitely different levels of success. Success can be beating a level in a video game all the way to getting the job promotion of your dreams. In both cases one can be considered successful, but I feel like the bigger the matter the more joy and pride you are able to get out of it. In order to acheive success, you have to be willing and determined to do whatever it takes to make your dreams reality. You have to believe in yourself, and know that the only person that is stopping you from being successful in everything that you do is your own self. If you think that you won't acheive, than you won't. But if you are determined and persevering than you can be successful in anything that you set your mind to. I think that one needs to be taught what success truly is and why it is so crucial in our lives. Sometimes we take for granted the little things that we accomplish in life, or sometimes, we settle for okay, not great. We must always take advantage of an opportunity at success, even if it seems impossible. When Michelle and Kylie talk about drugs and success, it got me thinking about whether success is positive or negative. I think that there is a difference between getting away with something and success. Success is a positive impact on your life that will actually get you somewhere. Getting away with something, on the other hand, (such as selling drugs and not getting caught) will only make you a bad person and create trouble in the end.
First, I want to say I agree with you about books from the library. That plastic always takes away the appeal of a book.
Success is the word that is pushed in your face your entire school careers. "Success" in the school career is like a barmitzmah or a batmitzmah with Jewish boy or girl. "You’re not man or woman if you don't go through with your readings, or in school terms, you aren't successful if you don't pursue a good career at the end of your time." "Yes, Ms. Bunje is a Jew, but she never had her barmitzmah, or Jon is a nice guy and got good marks but he only is flipping burgers."
Success is different in the eyes of everyone. Success is the meeting with the expectations the person judging if you are a successful person or not. Success in my eyes is if something is pursued to instill happiness or something someone really wants to do. In my eyes you don't have to be a Harvard Grad to be a success. Charles Bukowski went for two years to a community college, was a drunk, complete loner, but he wrote more widely known masterpieces than probably 90% of Harvard Grads. On paper, the life of Bukowski was a complete failure, but really it was what he wanted, and in some perverted way found happiness in, and I feel as if that makes him a success. But I think even if you are happy and sound, something needs to be accomplished. Sitting on your bum isn't successful. I think there are different levels and measures of success. A non-successful life would be waiting for death, rotting, shooting heroin or some kind of drug; anything that is just acting as a shovel for your grave. BUT as sad as it is, people like Burroughs for example, did heavy drugs, lived with an addiction and still maintained a successful writing career. With success you got to take the good with the bad, even if there is worse then good, the good is still a measure of success.
For me to feel the sense of success I have to feel as if I bettered something in my life. If I have improved something, even if it’s small like the other day built a book case, I felt like a man or something as big as getting into AP Lang. Any improvement gives me that feeling of success. Sometimes you need to look at what you did from a different angle, but most likely if it was positive there is some success in it.
This blog question is not my favorite, though due to the grade attached, i will proceed with a reply.
Success. Success is not something that can be defined. Success is a feeling, success is a reality, success is when your most unreachable goals are reached. To me success is a personal thing. Every one has their own goals, dreams, and aspirations in life. They strive for them and do things in life and make certain decisions or do certain actions to help advance those goals. Then one day, that goal, that dream, that aspiration is acheived. Your whole body feels at ease and every thing feels like everything is complete. That is success. Success can also come from just wants. You want to do well in work, so you strive to be sucessful, you want to be successful in a sport so you play your hardest. Everything is driven towards success, and even though it is not sometimes easily achieved, it sure feels good when it is though.
Successful people are people who are content with thier lives, who have reached or accomplished the things they need or want to get done. Those are successful people. My dad has everything he has ever wanted, a great family, a nice house, a good paying job, my dad is successful. My uncle works pay check to pay check but still puts food on the table, and makes sure he is there for his family, he is a successful person. Like i said before success is not always about winning or coming out on top, it is doing your own personal best.
Yes there are many different levels, because there are many different types of success. Being premoted to partner at a law firm is successful, and defiantly overcomes winning a club soccer game. Though both successions, neither nothing alike.
To feel success, i feel that you need to be happy. Happy people can be successful. And i dont mean those up beat happy all the time people, i just mean content. No one is ever satisfied with their life but a mere pitch of happiness is setting the road blocks for a successful life.
In order for me to be successful i want to be happy. I want to go to college, i'd be happy with any of them (though i do have my prefrences), having a good well paying job, but more importantly doing something i love to do. I wish to have a great family with kids and a nice house. Just a fairy tale i guess you could say. But seriously, happiness, no matter where life takes me, will make me successful.
For the record, I am not so sure that i would consider Donald Trump to be a success. He is rich (but he has filed for bankruptcy a zillion times) and he has an AMAZINGLY beautiful wife (although he didn't get the beautiful wife the first time around). So I don't know. I think we will have to reconsider Trump on the sucessful thing.
Oh, and Michelle, I am a failure.
Okay, so here I am, typing my blog, as promised. Even though I can't feel my legs, my eyes look like they're bleeding, and my purse smells like Brill's chinese food and spilled Starbucks, I'm still finally able to produce an answer. At least I've had time to think about it after Caitlin's iphone died. Haha.
Success. Being the drama geek that I am, this calls to mind the name of a song from Ragtime. In that song, the immigrants from the Lower East Side tenements expressed their dreams to attain when they're arrived in America; simultaneously, these were shredded to pieces as J.P. Morgan lectured and degraded them. The end.
Success is nothing like that to me. It is the end that justifies the means. A goal. In my simple opinion, success is the outcome of a fragmented possibility; something that can be, will be, or might never be. When I say simple, I do mean simple. There are stories that go along with the success or failure. For example, I joined Caitlin on a very exciting (not) trek to Cumberland County to watch our boys perform in H2S, etc. The protagonist did not really have a proclivity for any skills needed at the office he was hired. But yet, he managed to climb the ranks of the business in less than a week. An interesting story indeed. His story was one filled with many experiences in which to learn from and enjoy. I think it’s safe to say that all of us - whether we have had our fair share of success or not – can extract some shred of meaning from our ventures.
The true blue successful person is motivated, determined, willing, optimistic, etc, etc, etc. Blah blah. Those people are the lyrics to a song void of a melody. It’s time that our success stories are roughed up a bit and given some soul. Our stories have heartache, struggle, and maybe even…failure. Perhaps it hasn’t really happened yet; maybe it’s happened time and time again. There are different spheres of success, such as winning a sports game or saving up enough money to buy an Ipod. How can that measure up to becoming the badass CEO of Apple or winning an Oscar? They’re the stepping stones. We must learn success on a small scale to strive towards a greater purpose. See? There you go: lesson learned, story concluded.
Unfortunately, all of this mumbo-jumbo is easier said than done. I have all of those qualities somewhere in my bones and ligaments, but too often do they lie dormant like hibernating bears. If I were to become the curator of the Smithsonian Institute like I desire, a college degree would be crucial. According to Mr. Cervi, if I don’t get one, I’ll end up working the cash register at WaWa. Therefore, I need money. Lots of it. I guess personal qualities factor in along the way, but physical means are necessary as well. I think all I need right now is to do what Laina proposes: if waking up on time makes me successful, then so be it. Considering how tired I am right now, that may be difficult. If I can be successful in that endeavor, I’ll definitely have the motivation to gain more and more. Hooray for the Bunje the Merciful! I cannot be any more grateful than I am now. :)
Success is happiness. When I dream of being older and being successful, I dream of living comfortably with a family that loves me, and that I love to death. These are the things that would make me happy in the future, and therefore I would consider myself successful.
The hallmarks of a successful person include a comfortably stable economic situation, where one can wake up not worrying about how he or she is going to pay for dinner. Also, being surrounded by loved ones, whether it be friends, family, or that special someone, to be successful in life, I think you need company that cares about you. I know that when I grow up, I see myself on the front lawn, as green as the commercials with the grass growing formulas, having a catch with my son or daughter. I can see him or her laughing, because being successful would not only being happy myself, but by making those that I love happy as well.
I’m not sure exactly how I’ll get there. Whether I go to school for four years, six years, or even eight years after high school, I know I want to go to college. I want to do this because I believe that by doing so, I’ll be able to better support my family. I think this is an important part of being successful because not worrying those that you love most keeps them happy. In the Pursuit of Happyness, I know happiness is spelled wrong, the wife left her husband because he couldn’t support her. I, along with everyone else probably, thought he was as unsuccessful as one could get. He slowly climbed the steep mountain of success, though. He kept his son happy, no matter what the circumstances were. That was his number one goal. He made up a game where they traveled back in time, just to keep his son’s mind off their situation. This was one aspect of his becoming successful. The other, of course, is economic. Being able to keep those around you comfortable is important, and in the Pursuit, he did that at the end. This is when he achieved true success in my opinion.
So I guess in order to “acquire” success, one needs economic stability and to be surrounded by those that one loves. This person must be able to not only keep himself happy, but the people closest to him as well.
Success I think is a personal achievement, accomplishment, or victory that YOU set for yourself and obtain. For instance if Barack Obama becomes president he would be considered successful. When I rule the world it will add to my success because even the little goals you set for yourself add to being successful. To determine success depends on the person. Like Nick said just because you win the soccer game or in my case track meet but surrender six goals or not placing in a meet, you aren’t successful unless the end result is what you wanted to achieve. This is the same if you look at the other way success is personal therefore if your on team that loss but you gave a hundred and ten percent and completed your goals you are successful. The common thread in success is YOU. You determine your success. Of course with success is levels becoming president and getting an A on a test are different levels of success. So let’s think of success like a pyramid. At the top of your pyramid is the ultimate goal. Below that are minor goals that you accomplish to reach ultimate success. Each goal you accomplish though makes you successful, but the level is determined by the impact the minor success has on the ultimate goal. After you have completed the ultimate task you create a new pyramid and become more and more successful. For example let’s say I want to be state champ in the long jump. That’s the ultimate goal. A very minor success would be perfecting my run up, this would be at the bottom of the pyramid. A more major success would be winning sectionals. Once I reach my ultimate goal then my new pyramid would be getting a full scholarship and so forth. This is a great example of the importance each success holds as well.
For me all it takes sometimes to feel successful is a little praise from someone and accomplishing my goals no matter how minuscule the goal is. Praise goes a long way; I think that is a major part of what needs to occur to see yourself as a success. Other than that fulfilling my goals and not failing prove to me that I am successful. When I say not failing I don’t mean at all but I feel more successful the less I fail.
For the record I did create my definition before reading anyone else’s blog because I believe Dave’s is along the same line as mine which only proves that great minds think a like. With that said we are truly correct no one else can determine your success. People may try but the bottom line is your success lies in your hands, and only your hands.
I know this is extremely late, but I thought I would answer the question anyone, even if it won't count, due to the topic. Because, in my eyes, success is about trying. I believe, that success is more than the money and material objects. The poorest people in the world can be successful. I read a book called The Glass Castle once and I think that is when I truly created my own definition for success. It was about an extremely poor family, and how they dealt with all the problems dealt to them. The parents never became prosperous, in fact they lived on the street until the day they died. But, to their children they succeeded more than anyone could ever imagine. In the dictionary it is defined as "the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors" and also, "the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like." I completely disagree with the second given definition. Success is when someone tries to do something by giving every ounce of energy into it. It is the feeling of accomplishment, even if they did not accomplish what they set out to do. It is when someone steps up, and goes out of the normal to do good. It is when someone sets forth to do a goal, especially if they achieve it.
Whether or not you are successful can be determined by the way you feel inside. If you are not let down, or not proud of yourself, you are not successful. If you can't be happy and enjoy life and everything it offer, with all the money in the world you are still not successful. Some people determine success by how people perceive them. This is not true to me. How people perceive you does not always mirror what you really are. If you do not feel worthy of success, you are not.
There are different levels of success. I was successful in passing my drivers test. This, does not compare nearly as close as a person being successful in riding the world of AIDS or disease. There are better things to be successful for, but, the feeling of worthiness that comes along with it has no separate levels. It all feels as good.
In order to be successful, you need determination, goals, drive, confidence, and support. You need to have the right aims in mind. Greed, envy, and material objects, will never make you feel successful. You could have all the money in the world, and still feel like the loneliest person. So, in order to feel the success, these ideas need to be free from mind.
Success is trying and achieving. Or, it is trying and trying again.
By the way, Caitlin is not a failure. End of story.
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