Define Success

Success. A simple word yet holds a powerful meaning.

As a kid, success is often defined as getting rich, having high-end properties, luxury cars or even having a happy family later on. As we grew older, our perspective of success changes and what we used to define success is no longer the same.

Google defines success as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. As a youth transitioning to an adulthood, being successful is one of the major goals that they would set to pursue in life. However, achieving success is interpreted differently by each individual. For instance, education and occupational achievement, happiness, being mindful, figuring out your identity, doing what you love and loving what you do. To sum all of that up, there is no accurate answer in what characterize success is, hence it is difficult to advise someone on how to be successful, as success cannot be accomplish or measured by a specific manner. Each individual have their very own pathways to follow, to search, to desire, to want and to strive.

To achieve success; to be successful; to succeed, it all begins from being who we are, loving what we do, chasing after our own goals and dreams, being patience, perseverance and hard-work. Success is measured by what we have set for ourselves to pursue, what we desired to achieve in both short term and long term and most importantly, success is self-fulfillment and self-enrichment. It is also being comfortable with your strengths and accepting your weaknesses, working on your capabilities and constantly challenging yourself by facing your giants. To me, that is what success is.

As I mention before that success in adulthood cannot be characterized by anyone else but yourself. There are a few things we should also keep in mind, as when we set our goals and move forward to being successful.

Stay hungry [ Learn, experiment, take risks ]

Staying hungry does not mean going in the kitchen and looking for something to chew on, rather it means stay absurdly-never stop learning, constantly experimenting and attempting new things in life and take risks that would challenge you to grow out of your comfort zone.

a) Learn.

A standout among the most widely recognized approach to learn is through listening or reading. Reading helps expands your horizon, it opens up your mind to alternate perspectives of thinking, writing style, presentation and also stimulates the creative side of your mind. Learning could be about the subject that interest you or a skill you intend to perfect for your career ahead. Learning can also be pick up from the people who had come before you, the lessons from the mistakes they have made and how they manage to get back on their feet. Besides, your mistakes, your imperfections and your downfall is all part of learning. Miley Cyrus, who is an American singer, actress and songwriter once said: “the minute you stop making mistakes is the minute you stop learning.”

Never restrain yourself to what you can learn, keep an open mind. The capacity of learning is more important than IQs or natural capability. Some of the most successful people are not the most intelligent ones, however they worked hard and never stop learning. They strive and never give up.

b) Experiment.

You do not have your entire life to figure out your identity, your strengths and your weaknesses. It is important for an individual to find an area they want to pursue in, nevertheless finding that exact niche takes time. It also takes time for an individual to try out something new. After many trials and error involved, he or she comes closer to the path that they are destined to do. Therefore, experimenting at an early age has its benefit, as he or she would know who they are as a person and what they are capable of doing. With that, they are able to focus on what they are good at and pursue the life goals that have set for themselves.

c) Take risks.

Taking risk is probably one of the scariest things in life, as it challenges you to close your eyes and take a leap of faith out of your comfort zone. On the off chance that you are reading this now, and currently you are stuck in a situation of uncertainty and into the world of unknown. I CHALLENGE YOU. I challenge you to take a deep breath, drop every fear you have and take that risk.

To achieve success in life, it will always involve great risks. When you take the risk, you have a 50-50 chance of you losing and winning, on the other hand, you instantly lose the moment you hold back. There is a saying goes: “if you want it, go for it. Take the risk. Don’t always play it safe or you will never achieve your dreams.”

Conquer the fear of failure.

Now and then, when an individual tries to attempt on something, he or she might fall, tumble, crash and burn. And sometimes, it is alright to fail a couple of times, what is more important is that you bounce back from failure, take that failure as a lesson and move forward from it. Indeed, it is risky to fail, especially if you are in the business field as there is a saying goes “mistakes are expensive”. Nevertheless, that does not mean you should quit attempting or stop taking risks, this would only result in you not being able to continue growing nor fully understanding who you really are and your capabilities.

Failure is part of growing up. No manual or handbook can teach us to be successful in everything we do. Even the greatest and the almighty ones had once failed, so why can’t we?

The thing about failure is that occasionally failure can lead to fear and it will incapacitate us until we take action to conquer it. Fear can be in any structure of what other people think of you, of failing, of imperfections and the fear of being vulnerable. Sporadically, fear can be the main reason for holding us back from realizing our full potential or even holding us back from our dreams and goals.

To conquer fear, we need to acknowledge and grasp that fear is real; no one in this world is completely perfect, we are all perfect with our own imperfections. In spite of it, we need to move forward and learn to conquer it. We need to get out into the world, make it our own world, test our individual capabilities, dare to throw ourselves into experiences, even if we stumble and fall, trust me, everyone do too. Whatever you do and wherever life may take you, never live life in fear of failure and keep moving forward until your dreams become your reality.

            There is no definite interpretation of what success is, as it cannot be measured nor there is handbook for being successful, but these are the little things we can do to bring us one step closer to succeed in life. The key to success begins with one person, and that is yourself. In the book; The Naked CEO, by Malley said that: “Make dreaming a habit. And never let go of your daring and drive to actualize those dreams.” My question to you is, could you?


Written by Cliantha Cheah

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