Success... What is it?

If someone is asked if they want to be successful when they grow up, of course they are going to say yes; they’d be crazy to say no. But successful can have different meanings to different people. To some it’s measured by the amount of money you have in your bank account and others measure it by how happy they are.
So what about me? How would I measure success? I am definitely a mixture of both. I eventually want to have a family so I am obviously going to need money to support them, but if I’m not also happy, that money means nothing to me. So if that means that I have to sacrifice some money to gain my happiness, then so be it. You only live once; you mind as well be happy during it.
When I meet someone for the first time and I want to see if they are successful or not, I first look at how they are dressed and how they present themselves. Now, when I say I look to see what they are wearing, I don’t mean I look to see if their suit is made by Armani. I look to see if they clothes are neat and appropriate, regardless of how much their outfit costs. I also look to see how they present themselves. I look for how well they speak, their personality, their confidence and their overall appearance. If someone is successful, they are going to want to show it and let everyone know that they are someone. Basically I am saying that first impressions mean a lot, especially in a situation such as an interview. Like Chris Maurer said when she came to speak to our class, first impressions are big and they are kind of like our “30 second commercial.”
Obviously to measure success you have to look at someone’s job. The person does not have to be the CEO of a company to be successful. Then again, if someone has been working for the same company for ten years and still has the same position they had when they started there, they may not be so successful. That person is obviously not trying to build themselves up. In reality, not everyone is going to get to the top, but what matters is that they try because if they try, they’re bound to get somewhere and somewhere is better than no where. Success wise, I don’t think it necessarily matters what career choice you make, just as long as you are able to advance in it, make decent money, and be happy.
Success doesn’t always have to do with someone’s job, status, or paycheck. Sometimes success has to do with the people around you like your family and friends. I personally can not see my life in the future without a husband and children so if that did not happen for me, I would feel like I failed in that part of my life. My friends are also extremely important to me so without them, I couldn’t be whole and I couldn’t be successful. To even emphasize more that success doesn’t have to correlate with a job, I have many friends that their moms are stay-at-home moms. They don’t have jobs but I don’t believe that means they are unsuccessful. They are successful in the aspect of devoting their lives to their families and I think that’s awesome. They do this everyday to make the lives of other people in their family, like their husbands, easier.
I know that to be successful in a career, people sometimes have to make sacrifices. Like I said before, I would not sacrifice my family for a career but I also understand that you have to build yourself up in the working world. I do not expect to start out at the top so I know I may have to make a few sacrifices that could interfere with my personal life until I get to where I want to be and where I can make more decisions on my own. Of course, the positive side of this is that the harder I work, the further I will get. Obviously the line has to be drawn somewhere because I cannot sacrifice everything in my personal life just for my career life. There has to be some kind of balance or I will not be happy.
When I see someone doing well, like my room mate for instance, it does make me want to do better. In this way, I do believe success is contagious. I certainly don’t think it is contagious to everyone though. I am the type of person who is hard-working and loves doing well, but everyone is not like me. There are some people in this world that no matter how many people they see succeeding, they still have no motivation to work harder. These are the type of people who are content with who they are, and feel no need to do any better.
I believe my aunt is a great example of someone who is successful. She lives in Sea Isle City, NJ and works side-by-side with the mayor of the town. My aunt and my uncle bought a house there as a weekend home, but they soon fell in love with the town and permanently moved there a couple years later. Obviously she had to quit her job at home in the Philadelphia area and find one there. My aunt is an extremely sociable person and as a result of that, she worked her way into City Hall, and eventually got to where she is today. “I worked my way up fairly quickly, but I really have to contribute that to my ambitious personality and my great people skills,” said my aunt. She told me that the only way I will make it in the world is to “go after what I want and let nothing get in my way.” She also told me that I can’t be scared to approach people and ask questions which I think is great advice because, like I said in my first blog, I am not the most outgoing person.
I think it is really interesting seeing Britney Spears in the news today. She used to be on top of everything and have the world at her finger tips. Recently, her world has been spiraling quickly out of control. She is in the middle of losing custody of her children, her singing career has decreased dramatically, and she is in and out of rehab. This just goes to show you that just because you have made it doesn’t mean that everything can’t be taken away from you in an instance. As you can see, success is a very hard word to define and it is defined differently by different people. I believe that as long as you are happy, surrounded by people you love, and have a decent income that makes your life comfortable