Lets Start Simple

According to Dictionary.com the definition of success and the answer to what is success is very simple. They define success in two different ways:

1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.

This is interesting because the two definitions seem very different. The first one seems very black and white. If you achieve a goal you are successful. No matter what the goal was, if you accomplished it, you were successful. Personally I think this definition does not accurately express what modern day society thinks of success. If this definition was true, everyone in society is successful but not everyone agrees with that. I feel that most people agree with definition number two and any of their smaller goals to get there are only steps needed to achieve success in the end. No matter how many smaller goals we accomplish we can not see how far we have come. Everyone is constantly looking forward and focusing on the next steps towards success.

Shawn Achor gave a TED Talk about success and happiness and how we are looking at it all wrong (link below.) There was a study done on Harvard students about success. When they were accepted into Harvard they accomplished a huge goal and most people would consider them extremely successful. The study found that within within two weeks of the students being at Harvard they forgot about how successful they had been and were too focused on the stresses of their classes and the competition for class rank among their peers. These students overcame huge odds to make it into Harvard and within two weeks they feel like they aren't successful anymore but rather drowning trying to achieve success. They feel like they still aren't good enough even though the rest of the world looks at them as some of the brightest minds in the world. They feel like they need to attain this wealth, position, and honors that the second definition talks about.

http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html
http://www.tedxbloomington.com/2011/03/shawn-achor/

The second definition makes success a much harder thing to accomplish but it also leaves a lot of grey area. How much wealth is needed for success? What position is considered successful? How many awards and honors do you need to be successful?