The Meaning of Success to me By Ricardo A Sopacua There are many famous sayings in regards to Success, and personally I like

the f ollowing since it is closer to what I deem as success: SUCCESS is a journey, not a destination Anonymous.

People define Success differently, and it varies according to how they perceive their values in life, or their own worldview in life. A businessman might define success as something else that is different from a politician; a 40-year old ma n might have different idea about success from a teenager; men might share simil ar values of success which are quite different from women; the list goes on and on as people are different depending on where they are from, what they do, gende r, age, and all other social factors which have made us into who we are today. Although success can be interpreted in so many ways, I prefer to relate success to ones achievements over his or her goals in life. Therefore, success is not the end state, it is a progressive accumulations of many achievements in ones life w hich gives him or her certain stronger self-esteem, which leads to the highest l evel as per Maslows Theory The Hierarchy of Needs that is the Self-Actualization. As we can see above, success has a strong attachment to our perception, our valu es, or to our worldview. The question is: Is Success an independent state, which is something very personal, or this is something which needs confirmation from others? Man is a social animal, therefore, he/she needs the presence of others; and in t his case, he or she needs recognition of his or her success from others, otherwise , the accomplishments or success might mean less or, at time, could be nothing t o him or her. There is nothing wrong in being recognized by others, but one shou ld not take this into the most important value in his or her life. We should foc us our efforts and try our best to achieve our goals and objectives and the goal is not to be recognized. The goal is not simply to get the attention from other s, or getting a standing ovation from the crowd. We should focus on the progress or the road to achieving our goals, no matter what others might think of us or how they perceive us. If, at the end of the day, we do get the recognition, we d o get the standing ovation, then it is a bonus since the personal fulfillment of what we have achieved is far more important than the recognition from others. I would really like to encourage everyone to always try his or her best effort i n everything they do, from the planning process up to the final result. Dont let peoples comments let you down as you go to the final step, in achieving the succe ss itself. Remember that success is not a destination, it is the process, it is the journey. So youd better enjoy every moment of hard works, failures, and achie vements as one day, you will look back and see how far you are now already from where you started, and how much you have accomplished. Only then you can finally find the best definition of success in your life. Jakarta, June 1st, 2009