What Does It Mean To Be Successful?

There is no accurate definition of what it means to be successful in life. People use the term to describe professional success as defined by their preeminence or having made a lot of money, or both. Success can mean financial achievement, public recognition and acts of bravery or charitable contributions. Other more conventional measures may be based in your belief to successfully raise children and their next generation of children. There are numerous interpretations of success; all dependent upon whom, where and when you came into this world.

I don’t mean becoming a Nobel Laureate, movie star or the President of the United States. And I certainly don’t mean to have control over others or make more money and have more things than everyone else. By the above standards, practically no one is ever successful. But I do

Finding a career that has the position and that brings financial reward is one such recognizable success. Another is having a loving family, usually (but not always) including children and good friends. Having status and recognition in your community largely goes along with the aforementioned.

Clearly, there are many factors that influence your future success, starting with being lucky enough to be born with the right parents and in the right country. The children of affluent, educated parents are statistically more likely themselves to be highly educated and ultimately gain successful jobs. I take these to be an outgrowth of basic, simple luck. And luck enters into individual’s lives again and again and in so many ways. Most eminent people will acknowledge the influence of luck in their lives.

Offspring of the “right parents” are more likely to move in the right circles, attend the right schools and likely to meet and marry the right people who are themselves, lucky. Every lucky step in life takes us along the road to more luck and more