Ladder of Being Successful

¶ … Ladders of Success

There can be different paths to success as well as different perceptions of what being successful actually consists of. Success can mean different things to different people depending on what their objectives are. For example, success to a scientist might consist of creating the next breakthrough research study or finding a medical discovery that can save lives. Success to a business professional might represent many achievements depending on their personal or professional goals. For instance, a leader of a Fortune 500 company might define success much differently than the owner of a local mom and pop corner grocer. This analysis will outline a rough working outline of some of the subjective constructs that are commonly associated with success and how they apply to motivation, as well as a personal reflection about some or the ideas that I have developed about the career of one of the most successful people I know, my father.

Analysis

Success is a complex concept that has a great deal of subjectivity contained within it. The Merriam-Webster definition of success defines the word as:

: the fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame

: the correct or desired result of an attempt

: someone or something that is successful: a person or thing that succeeds

From this definition, the meaning of being successful can based on either internally constructed metrics about one's own level of success, or the same metrics could also be applied to virtually anyone else that is known. Furthermore, it is also possible to use metrics of success that have been designed elsewhere, and either apply them to yourself, or someone else that you know. For example, I can easily perceive that Bill Gates seems like an extremely successful entrepreneur, whether or not Mr. Gates himself actually thinks he is himself successful. It is also extremely easy to think of possible situations in which such perceptions are in disagreement. For instance, I might believe that the chancellor of the university has had an exemplarily successful career, while the chancellor himself may simultaneously deem himself to be a complete failure in life due to the fact that he was never a CEO, a politician, a book author, or an endless number of other personal goals that he did not achieve.

Similar to the way in which the criteria that can be used to define success can vary, the concept of success is also dynamic in the sense that they can be applied in varying degrees to either narrow or broad goals or objectives. The concept of success can be applied to a certain context, such as a time period or in a specific situation. For example, an individual might be successful in college but then not be considered successful for a period of twenty years, and after such a period then accomplish something that returns himself to level of success. Another dynamic of the perception of the achievement of success can be relative to individual objectives that are actually conducted simultaneously. For example, a marketing professional might be successful in determining their target market, a failure in regard to creating an engaging marketing message, but also successful relative to meeting the organizations sales quota for the month. Given the endless amount of varying ideas of success such as these, it is clear that success is entirely subjective and each person can have their own idea of success.

Personal Reflection

This analysis has introduced the complexities and the level of vagueness that can be inherent in the concept of being successful, but now I would like to give a brief overview of my own ideas and my personal experience of being close to someone I consider remarkably successful. First of all, given the relative nature in regards to the concept of success, I think it is incredibly important to determine what your own personal sense of success is and work to define it in a more concrete way. For example, I have one set of goals that are geared towards my college experience and this set covers many themes from personal achievements outside of school as well as within academics.

I have set these to be slightly ambitious but not overwhelming to the extent that they are not achievable with a deal of effort. Furthermore, I keep these goals written down and revisit them often. By looking at my goals weekly, I can get a sense of where I am at relative to these goals and try to improve my performance in areas that might be lacking if need be. Furthermore, simply by making the goal-checkup a regular practice that is part of a routine, the goals are habitually on my mind, or at least in the back of my mind, and I feel like this helps me to make better decisions in relation to these goals. For example, if I was never thinking about my goals, I would likely lose sight of them entirely so I feel like reviewing them often is a great asset.