Definition of Success

What success truly means is objective and therefore can only be defined on an individualistic basis. However, that would not be possible to fit into the dictionary, so the more technical definition is “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.” The word success is one that can have a slightly altered meaning, so yet another of the multiple definitions is “the attainment of popularity or profit.” While this might be a more common ideal, this further description is problematic because it is only one of the many different views of success.
In American society the latter could be assumed that this would be our outlook of success by viewing our overall obsession with making, spending, and having a lot of money and possessions to show it off, as it is correlated with power and worth as a person. Going through life, those things may seem like they have a high importance. The question is, for those who this is their definition, will it still be while on their deathbed? In the end, will those materialistic things actually bring within them a feeling of fulfillment? The answer for most would be no, which makes me wonder why it is currently their idea of success while they are going through life.

My hope for the definition of true success is that it should be measured by the positive imprint one left on the world, the connections and relationships that they made with other beings, the incredible things they were able to experience, and their growth as a human being during the time on this planet. These are the basis of what satiates most people’s sense of self. Based on this, it makes sense that more people would have genuinely “successful” lives and be more content with what they did with their time on this planet if this were the more common viewpoint.