Success is a single monosyllabic word that carries a different meaning to every person; this is the reason of having no absolute overall definition of it. In Compact Oxford Dictionary (2008), success is to accomplish, something wished, planned for, and attempted to achieve through hard work. The origin of the word success is Latin successus that means to come close after, it relates to the extent of achievement rather than to the volume of work done (Oxford Compact English Dictionary, 2008). To define success, one has to look first at the standards, keys, and models of success.
Success can be an achievement, a moment, or fruition, in any instance, success incorporates both perceptions and experiences; one of the major problems in defining success is that experiences and perceptions felt internally. On the other hand, evaluation of success is often by someone else (external), in other words there are objective and subjective standards for success. Further, the meaning of success differs with different community cultures, in industrial well-developed communities, three outcomes that decide what success is. These are influence, wealth, and prominence. An absolute definition of success will ignore people paving the way for success; an example is a schoolmaster who works hard to provide the suitable learning and teaching environment. Another is a volunteer at a local hospital providing support services to the elderly patients or chronically ill children, is that person successful or the hospital administration or doctors. This is another reason of having one’s own definition of success (Herb and Sweeny, Pp.23-31).
Success can be the achievement of autonomy that is one’s freedom to take decisions based only on his interest. For others, success is to achieve emotional satisfaction and constancy in the course of life, for others still it is achieving glory as for the Olympic athletes. What model an individual looks at as a successful one depends on one’ objectives in life to decide which model to look at (Herb and Sweeny, Pp. 23-31).
The keys to achieve success are many; however the most important one is to love what one is doing, that is simply to understand that success is not the gate to happiness, but happiness is the a key to success. Second, and of equal importance is to define one’s objectives in this stage of life, that is what does one want? In addition, defining one’s objective in life and the steps or the road to go through that is when does one want it? Of equal importance is to define how to achieve these objectives that is how does one want his image to be? Concentration on one’s goals (always keep focused), and balancing the various values and principals in life , moral, spiritual, physical, and psychological are two important pillars in considering personal success (McNamara, Pp.102-103).
The way Radun in 2007, defines success is convincing. Success is an aim in itself; rather it is a long road to pass through, it is not an end but a continuous expedition. To include all success view and experiences, a developed definition of success on three pillars, first is what can be achieved? Second, is a clear plan for the future. Third, is to enjoy the journey to achieve these objectives. In this sense, a person is successful, if that person likes what he does, has gratifying relationships, and has an achievable plan for the future.
As life issues are connected, one should always keep a broad vision of life to be able to assess issues in life and move towards them in an inclusive way.
Works Cited
- Herb, Greenberg, and Sweeney, Patrick, et al. Succeed On Your Own Terms. New York: McGraw-hill, 2006.
- McNamara, Carter. Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development: A Collaborative and Systems Approach to Performance, Change and Learning. Minneapolis: Authenticity Consulting, LLC, 2006.
- Rauden, Lori. “Success Coaching: A New Definition of Success.” The Online Self Improvement Encyclopedia. 2007.
- Soanes, Catherine, and Hawker, Sara (Editors), et al. Compact Oxford English Dictionary Of Current English, 3rd Edition. London: Oxford University Press, 2008.