Measuring Success

Success can be defined as so many things. Many people in our civilization today believe that success has to do with how much money you have, how many cars you own, what does your home look like and things of that nature. I on the other hand believe that success is what you make it. Success depends on your goal. If someone has set a goal to graduate college at the top of their class, own their own business, and have a family by the age of 24 and their goal is accomplished, then to me, they are successful. It's all about what it is that you are striving for.
In addition to making a goal and achieving the goal to become successful, I believe that there has to be a foundation first. The major foundation that determines everything besides you, is your family. Growing up their are many different things instilled in you. Although we as humans all have the wantingness to succeed, I think that there is different foundations and different values that makes a person want to go further.
The ultimate goal of success is to obtain happiness. If you don't have happiness upon completing your goal, then how can you deem yourself successful. The reason why people strive so much and work so hard is to be happy in the end. Everyone wants the big house and the flashy cars, but all off that without happiness is empty.
Success can be found in many instances and cases. When thinking about this assignment, I first thought of interviewing person who was working in the field that I am studying. At the last minute I changed my mind. I wanted to convey to everyone that success is what you make it and how happy you are in the end. I decided to interview a woman with five children, no degree, no car, she rents her own house and gets up everyday and goes to work early and stays late. This woman is my mother. Many people believe that people who live in the inner city are not successful, let alone a person who had their first child at 14 years old. I asked my mom did she think she was successful in her life now at the age of 42. She sat their for a while and smiled and said "yes I am successful. I may not have a fancy car and a big house nor a lot of money, but I have a wonderful family and I am happy." That is a direct quote from Mrs. Willette Baines. As the interview continued she told me how this not how she planned her life but her main goal is to raise her children right, keep a roof over their heads and at the end of the night, be content and happy with her life.
Sometimes it costs a lot to be successful. Things may not always go as planned and sometimes you have to loose somethings or even some people to become successful in whatever it is that you want to do. When you want to be successful in a career, sometimes it may feel as if you have to give up your life to get to where you want to be, but success is achieving your goal and ultimately obtaining happiness.
I definitely think that success is contagious. I think its just a psychological thing. When you are around a person who strives extra hard to be successful by achieving their goal it make you want to go further and also achieve a goal that you have. Success is like a contagious cold that everyone wants to catch. Everyone wants to succeed, it just that sometimes people just don't know how. Achieving a goal no matter how small (rock climbing) or how big (becoming the CEO of a company) is my definition of success...what is yours?