If you look up the word “success” in the dictionary, you may see that it says, “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose” or, “a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity.”

When I was younger, I used to think that there was just one way to achieve success, and that was to have all of the money in the world. And, for the majority of people, this just might be the case. However, I began to analyze the word “success” in more ways than just getting money. I started to think about how other people view a successful life and just what it is that makes a person successful.

I have had many conversations with people about success. I think we have all run across the question staying, “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” Many people just say that they want to be happy, have a good job and be successful. I never said anything, but I would always want them to elaborate on that. Everyone says that they want to be successful, but sometimes they never say how. Not too many people may focus on that, but I feel that it’s something to be discussed. Not everyone’s level of success is equal, and because of that, one person may not feel that they have lived up to their full potential.

Many think that the only way you have been successful is if you have a six figure salary, work in the highest positions and drive the best cars. That kind of success is embedded in people’s minds, and that could make them feel inferior or make them feel that they haven’t done enough with their lives because they aren’t where everyone else who is “successful” is. Also, it can lead people to keep on striving to achieve an unobtainable level of perfection. I say unobtainable because nothing is perfect. People who don’t think that their best is good enough will keep pushing and pushing to reach perfection until they are completely burned out.

I started measuring my own levels of success when I began college. Before I started thinking about my own goals, my definition of success was doing whatever it is that my mother or father wanted me to do. When I make them happy and proud because I’ve achieved their goals, that’s when I know I’ve led a successful life; I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Your definition of success is whatever you make it to be. The best way to measure it is by your own personal goals in life. For some people, success is driving the newest cars and making millions of dollars. And yes, that is a successful life because that’s what that person wanted to do. For some people, being successful is getting a degree, doing what they love to do for a living and getting their first car. Maybe a woman’s definition of success is marrying someone who can provide and take care of her, having children and being an outstanding wife and mother.

Whatever your desires are, whatever you strive for, if you achieve those goals in life, then that’s your own success. No one can truly tell you that you haven’t lived a successful life because you aren’t in the same place in life that they are. Wherever you see yourself in 10 years, no matter what the goal is, if you’ve accomplished it, then that’s success for you.