What is success? Finding the Definition and Meaning

Defining success is one of the most subjective meanings in the dictionary for anyone. We can say what it is in the same words but the meaning that a person subscribes to the word is different according to their experience and expectations.

Is it accomplishment?

So let us take someone who say success is accomplishment for them, accomplishments will therefore be subjective to what the person believes is an accomplishment. Deeper to this is that what one person thinks is an accomplishment could just be a normal thing to another person. One person might believe buying a car is a success whilst another thinks a car is a normal basic need.

Could it be wealth?

The easiest definition could be that when a person has attained wealth this is termed as success. However the subjectivity is in what wealth is and at which point does one start to believe that they have enough, hence the quantity of it or even the quality of the wealth. Is it when you don’t need to work for money or when your money can buy you whatever it is that you prefer? So are you wealthy if you have 50,000 dollars, or you are wealthy when you have 100,000 dollars or a million dollars. The general acceptance though in this consideration is that when you have lots of money and you can do just about anything you really desire then the common belief is that you must be wealthy.

Maybe it’s how people define it

Could it be that success is really just what society considers to be success, as in how people see you is what success is. For other people success is when people start calling them successful, hence they will look at themselves and say that because a certain number of people look up to them they can then define themselves as successful. This can include politicians who desire power because their definition of success is how many people adore them.

It’s principles and symbols

Perhaps success is really a principle and a symbol. If my desire is to be wealthy then when I attain the symbols that prove that I have money then that could be my meaning of success. If I say that I want to be a doctor and if I attain the certificate and start working in a hospital then I am successful by virtue of the desire to be a doctor being the principle and the certificate being the symbol. Hence the subjectivity.

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