Success to me is…

This is what i wrote for an interview.

when one starts thinking about what success really means. Is it getting through school with great grades, getting through to a college of one’s choice, being picked amongst several people for a elusive job, climbing up in the corporate ladder? What is success really measured in?

Personally, success is very easily defined by the happiness I feel. Success in life is directly proportional to happiness,  If I had to really point out to that one incident that I really felt successful it would have to be my first writing stint, it was not a great job in terms of remuneration or in terms of what I got to do. I was not revolutionary writer, my job was simple I had to write stories for children. I found immense joy in the job, I really felt satisfied, happy and content and if somebody asked me if I was successful I would fail to convince them that I was. But I knew I was doing something I love. That to me is success.

Success is to want to wake up each day and head to my job, enjoy it and come back home with an equally cheery mood. That is success. If I had a great job and my personal life was in tatters, I would be sad and would never really feel successful because I would know my job dominates my life , it  would make sore and tired. I don’t enjoy my life with people, my family and friends and anyone I would share this time with.  And what is life if you can’t share happy moments with family and friends? Who will I share my promotions with? Will I really be ‘happy’ with my success?

Success is complicated to explain, I don’t know the exact sentiment that one should feel when they are successful. But I know for a fact that success directly has to do with joy and happiness. If I want to be successful and at the age of 80 want to tell people I really lived my life successfully, I would define it by how happy I felt, not by how lonely and upset I was when I got my first pay check or when I moved into my new house.

Success to me is satisfaction to know that I have done my best, delivered to my best, achieved goals I set out to get, and mostly that I have done all of these on my own terms. Success is not evil competition to get ahead of others; it is to really be better than what I was yesterday.   I think success follows when one really understands his calling, like the character from the ‘The Monk who sold his Ferrari’ success may not even be what would conventionally be called success and yet it is. To be able to see yourself in the eye each day and say ‘ I don’t regret anything. I have lived my life and I have had a great time doing so’ is my definition of success.