Definition Essay: The Value Of Success

Success is an integral part of a good life. Everybody wants to be successful and everybody has the potential to be such. The familial environment that I grew up in and the habits that were instilled in me set me on a successful path. I consider myself to come from a successful family. My father was an esteemed judge in Iraq (I say was because he is no longer alive; he was killed after the break out of the war in Iraq in 2003). My mother graduated college with an engineering degree and taught electrical engineering at several high schools in Baghdad. Growing up between them, it was never ok to be lazy or careless and being successful was the optimum way of life. I was always encouraged to do well in school and give my best effort in everything.
Anyone has what it takes to be successful, but not everyone is willing to go through what it takes to reach success. Success requires many ingredients, but there is not a given recipe that will produce success. It can be achieved in countless ways. Success is versatile and different from one person to the next. Everybody has a slight different definition of what it means to be successful. I think success has many different levels and it never really stops, because whatever level of success you reach, you can always make more progress. To me, success is being on the go and never succumbing laziness, having a goal in mind and working relentlessly to reach it, having a healthy attitude about life, and overcoming obstacles in our way. Success, in my opinion, is not exclusive to rich people or the elite. Success can happen to anyone, anywhere; it does not discriminate. However, I think that there is a proportional relation between being smart and being successful. The smarter a person is, the more likely they will be successful. Being smart enables you to navigate through life from all directions and knowing exactly what kind of consequences your actions will