Success, as the dictionary defines it, is a favorable or desired outcome, the attainment of wealth or fame.

After a moment's thought one can be convinced that this word is by no means easy to define. What makes a person successful? Does money, parents or background guarantee success? The definition of success differs from person to person, culture to culture or even the generations and the different times people live in have their own conception of this seven letter word. I believe it would be unfair to restrict the definition of success or to view it from just one perspective.

Success is something that everyone yearns for in life. Whether it is becoming happy, healthy, or wise, there are certain achievements that stamp a person as successful. Right from the very beginning a child is told that if he wants to be prosperous in life he should dedicate himself towards his goal and work hard so as to come on top of everyone in this world of cut throat competition . That does sound like an ideal situation as it is both fair and ethical. But does a person's fate or luck contribute towards his success? If you put up this question in front of a fatalist, you are bound to hear a resounding "yes". That, in a way is correct as that is his view on success.

If say for instance, a person has wealth, fame, and a loving family, people might call him a 'success'; but if a person has just a happy and caring family and just enough funds to live a decent life , would you call him prosperous? I will leave that question to you. Success is not just the attainment of materialistic things or being a big and powerful personality in the society. It is to be happy and content with the decisions that a person makes in his life. While on his deathbed, if someone reflects on his life and thinks to himself, "If only I had ..." and regrets his actions, then no matter how popular a person he was or no matter how big a bank balance he had, he would be deemed as a failure.

Japanese definition of success is "Fall down seven times, stand up eight times". Now that proverb pops up a very interesting subject of failures in the path of success. Thomas Edison failed 999 times before he invented the electric light bulb. According to him there are no failures, just outcomes. On being questioned several times about his failures, Edison commented "I never failed . I just discovered another way not to invent the electric light." Like everything else in the world, success also has an offset and that is failure. For me end results is not success, rather each step along the way is an success in itself. It is just a mindset as to how people react to setbacks. To some, setbacks could ignite a fire to put in extra effort towards their goals, while on some people it might have a dampening effect.

There are different forms of success. National success is when a nation has a strong economy and is considered a big influence all over the world. It depends a lot on the kind of foreign policy a country adopts. There are a lot of factors that contribute towards a nation's success like poverty line, which obviously should be low, education, cost of living and also on the success of the individuals. America has a strong economy as people can actually afford a lot of things that people in other countries can not. For instance, a car is a necessity in U.S.A. where as it is still a luxury in a country like India.

As the term suggests, cultural definition has different implications for different cultures. But generally a culture can be considered successful if it is recognized and acknowledged worldwide and also if it has the ability to sustain the pressures of other cultures and adopt the better practices of other cultures than the not so good ones and still maintain its originality.

Here is a major question, is success always considered positive?

I really do not think so. People with evil intentions do succeed a lot of times in their ventures but success for them is a bane to the society. Basically it comes down to one's values and ambitions which he pursues and these values could be instilled in someone through good education which might include ethics and moral values.

Now here is the best part - my personal definition of success.

Success for me comes in parts, any small act that makes me feel good about myself, makes me successful. If I leave a void behind me that cannot be filled again by anyone, the kind of feeling I derive from this thought makes me feel that I have given my best and that I have been successful in my attempt. Peace of mind and satisfaction is success for me. Obviously money is important and there are basic needs of every person but on one can deny the fact that money cannot buy happiness. It can sure provide someone with momentarily joy but do not mistake it for everlasting happiness. I mean success and happiness are co-related words that cannot be separated. Success leads to happiness and eventually if you are happy then you think that you have been successful. Even though people may not recognize me as a big personality, but as long as I know that I am loved and cared for I will consider myself successful.