WHO IS ACTUALLY SUCCESSFUL?

Often a person who earns a big amount is respected in the society and such a man is also considered as a successful man .Is it really so ? Let us take two examples to illustrate the meaning of success .

A man is highly educated and working in a high rank in a reputed company . He is an egoist and self-centered person .His parents have a role indeed to make him a so called successful man in the society .They boast of their child in public .But their child when enjoys his recognition does not show much respect to his parents anymore .

Another man is working in a Shopping Mall.He does not earn much but he is very happy with his work .He never  fails to be in touch with his family and friends .He has a strong bond with his parents and always pays a visit to them almost regularly to look after them .His parents are very happy for that .

After reading these situations a question that comes to my mind is - Shall we consider earning solely as a condition of success ?In life peace of mind is the ultimate thing .It comes from certain values.Unless one has those values that individual can never be considered as a successful person as he fails to achieve the good values like maintaining a good relationship with parents ,family or friends .Money can not by love or peace of mind . There are two levels to judge success- Material aspect and Emotional aspect .From material perspective money is indeed the judging factor but from emotional perspective that individual fails to achieve even respect due to the lack of good values .Education of good values  is very much required not only the university degrees .But obviously a combination of these two, that is good values and degrees, will be great .So whenever we judge a person we have to consider both the factors .A rude ,egotistical person may achieve material success in life but with his death that success will die .On the other hand good values are always passed on from generation to generation and this is the key factor of life which teaches a person to be disciplined and obviously successful ultimately in life .A down to earth person with a simple heart with full of happiness and peace of mind yet have a little earning is similarly successful.

What Is Your Dream

We can define Success as the fulfillment of our DREAM.
But what is dream ? Cambridge Dictionary describes dream as

'a series of events or images that happen in your mind when you are sleeping' .

It again relates it with hope and describes it as

'something that you want to happen very much but that is not very likely.'

The later meaning of dream takes its direction to illusion .Cambridge Dictionary defines illusion as 

'an idea or belief that is not true .

From the above illustrations it is clear that when one achieves one's dream he is considered as successful. So to fulfill one's dream one needs to understand the basic meaning of Dream at first .That will help one to be successful.In The Interpretation of Dreams Freud says that dreams are formed as the result of two mental processes.The first process involves unconscious forces that construct a wish that is expressed by the dream .the second is the process of censorship that forcibly distorts the expression of the wish. All dreams are wish fulfillment.

The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmuend Freud: FREE Book ...

https://www.free-ebooks.net › Psychology Books

According to WIKIPEDIA - 

    Freud claimed that every dream has a connection point with an     experience of the previous day. Though, the connection may be minor, as the dream content can be selected from any part of the dreamer's life. He described four possible sources of dreams: a) mentally significant experiences represented directly, b) several recent and significant experiences combined into a single unity by the dream, c) one or more recent and significant experiences which are represented in the content by the mention of a contemporary but indifferent experience, and d) an internal significant experience, such as a memory or train of thought, that is invariably represented in the dream by a mention of a recent but indifferent impression.

If one only dreams and does not take any action to materialise it, that dream will never get its way to success .To enjoy success one should avoid simple day dreaming.Instead one should note down the points or steps first and work consistently to pursue that goal.Achieving that goal after pursuing it consistently according to a well designed plan may be called SUCCESS .  

Shall We Call It Success ?

Let us take an imaginary situation and try to find out the meaning and various dimensions of success today.

Suppose there is a student named Sam .He loves to play and mix with friends.He can sing very well .He takes part in school drama . He gives command to all the students during assembly in school .Just like any other boy of today he too spends much time in internet .His friends love him much when he plays guitar in the student's party .His elders contact him to shoot photo during a ceremony.Sam is also keen to help others in any situation even if that demands him to lend money from his parents .He is a very good public speaker. He has his dislikes also .Sam does not like to study in the conventional system of school so he does not go to school regularly rather it is very seldom he goes to school.He does not have a fixed dream in life .He goes on experimenting whatever he likes and he does it passionately for that time being .He is happy with what he does .He thinks he is successful in achieving everything whatever he has tried .
Sam's parents are both employed .They dream that their son will be a great person one day .They understand that Sam is full of potentialities .They let him follow his heart .But as they both come from conventional family backgrounds ,they do not understand how their dream will come true.Only reason that force them to think so is that Sam does not like to pursue his conventional studies .If Sam does not get degree from conventional education system what society will say about it ?

If we consider the story we get three perspectives - A) What Sam himself thinks about success  .B) What his parents think about success ,C) What society may consider as success .

If achieving the early set goal is success then we can consider Sam as Successful .But the meaning of Success is not the same in case of Sam's parents .So they are worried if Sam will be able to achieve their dream of becoming a great man in his future life .For the parents Sam's success is just his wish fulfillment . Success for the parents is associated with future establishments in life .If we think of society's view Success is then associated not only with personal achievement and establishment but also with social strata and financial enrichment .So Success a single word has different meanings in different situations .Little and consistent steps of goal setting and achieving lead its way to solid entity of success and establishment in society .

WHAT IS SUCCESS ?

Often I find people are running after success.But what is SUCCESS ?

Google says the meaning of success as 'the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.' So we have to understand the meaning of PURPOSE first .To define PURPOSE Google says -It is

1.  The reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.
2.  A person's sense of resolve or determination.

In the first definition the importance is on a particular CAUSE or CAUSES .On the other hand the second definition points out at the quality of a person .

Before we start discussing on success let us see how experts define it .


“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” Success is an attitude. Success requires maximum effort.- John Wooden [ Jul 21, 2016 ]. You may read it in the following link .

The First Step Toward Success Is Defining Success For Yourself

https://medium.com/.../the-first-step-toward-success-is-defining-success-for-yourself-92d...   

According to Merriam-Webster's definition of “success,” anyone who's rich, respected, or famous is successful. ... I like this definition way better—it still encompasses the above description (your personal goals can include making lots of money!), but also includes people who think more outside of the box.You may read it in the following link .

3 Better Ways to Define Success in Your Career - The Muse

https://www.themuse.com/.../3-better-ways-to-define-success-in-your-life-because-its-not...

We will find many other definitions of success .What it seems from these two definitions is that the term SUCCESS is relative . It revolves around an individual ,with individual goals to achieve and after fulfilling that goal that individual may consider himself as successful .Here comes the question - Shall we consider the view of only the successful person or it is the people around that individual who consider him to be successful ?