What does success mean to me?

Last modified date

I am pretty sure that you have never met anyone who doesn’t like pizza, hates cute puppies or someone who doesn’t want to be successful. But what exactly does success mean?

There are about 7,7 billion people on the Earth and it is incredible that everybody is unique. Of course a lot of things connect us, you can be similar to someone because of your character or look, but you are still not ordinary. Everyone understands things like love, peace or success in their own way.

Since I was a child I have wanted to achieve success, just like everyone. In my childhood success meant simply: winning a game, painting a picture, owning a Barbie doll or getting approval from a teacher. Nowadays, it means something different – like passing an exam, fulfilling my dreams and finding a job.

What it is going to mean to me in ten years? I can say that this is really tough question, because what exactly does it mean to achieve success? Having a lot of money? Being able to do whatever I want?

At first, when I started contemplating about this, I thought that success is like a cake, everyone wants it and it has got some elements that together make the whole.

Money is like a sponge biscuit. It is not necessary to be happy but it definitely helps, like a good foundation. My grandma says that if you don’t know what it is about, it is about money. If you have got money life is just easier, because things like bills, loans, taxes just exist and we can not pay for them by just being happy. It doesn’t mean that we should put it in the first place but just remember about them.

Cake without cream is just dry and not that good, right? To me, the cream is being proud of myself. In our whole life we meet tons of people – just remember your friends from primary school, from three years ago or just from one year back. Life is like a big wheel – someone goes in, someone goes out, but in this machinery there is only one person who is going to be there for us always and it is ourselves. It is what it is, so better become your own best friend because, whether you want it or not, you will spend your whole life with this annoying person. So, for me achieving success is being proud of myself. If you respect the person that you see in the mirror, you will be happier.

Okay… we have the sponge and the cream but what about decoration? Something seemingly small, which doesn’t really change the taste of our cake a lot but it makes such a big difference. Thanks to decoration we can make our cake more personal, show ourselves, and even if something goes wrong inside, outside looks so good that maybe no one will notice. I believe the decoration is doing what you love. I think that if you do what you really love – the money, good fortune and satisfaction will come.

Now you know my definition of success. What does success mean to you?

Here are some interesting lectures about success to give you inspiration:

Angela Lee Duckworth,
Grit: The power of passion and perseverance
Elizabeth Gilbert,
Success, failure and the drive to keep creating

See also the whole playlist of TED Talks related to the topic:

Ania Górecka

Photo by Austin Schmid on Unsplash

admin