Definition Of Success

Today, success is often defined by the number of cars you own and how many zeros there are in your bank account. If a person is able to graduate college, get a job, and eventually “settle down” with a family, then they are generally considered to be a successful person. Celebrities, athletes, and musicians are often considered successful because of the money they make. Even when formally defining success, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “the fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame.” If a person is making a large amount of money, they are often considered to be successful. In this day and age, success is often measured by the amount of money you make. However, success cannot simply be defined by wealth. An individual …show more content…
It can be internal (low self-esteem) or external (impoverished background). Without being able to overcome obstacles, a person can never hope to be successful. The most important aspect of achieving goals and overcoming obstacles is self-motivation. Wilma Rudolph had self-motivation and was also able to become a successful person. She had one obstacle in particular that she had to overcome. As a child, Wilma Rudolph was diagnosed with polio and doctors said that she would never be able to walk because of it. Rudolph, however, was not satisfied with this conclusion and worked hard to prove the doctors wrong. With the help of her family, she was able to learn how to walk. After learning how to walk, she learned how to play basketball, which led to her being scouted by a coach from University of Tennessee. This eventually led to Wilma Rudolph becoming a track star and Olympic gold medalist. Editor Dana R. Barnes confirms Rudolph’s historic win, stating “in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, she went for the gold, and won it – three times, becoming the first American woman ever to accomplish this feat.” Her tenacity is what defines her as a successful person. A successful person is someone that is able to overcome failure. What differentiates a successful person from a failure is their ability to persevere and not give up despite many mistakes and obstacle. He or she is also able to inspire others to do the same. He or …show more content…
Bell. Joshua A. Bell, or Josh as he liked to be called, was my mentor from an internship I did at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). I was interested in Anthropology and Josh was the scientist I was matched with. I consider Josh to be successful because he was able to achieve his goal of working in a field that he loved. His father was a lawyer but he never seemed satisfied with his job. Josh decided that he did not want to be like his father and decided to work in a field that he loved. He studied Anthropology at Brown University and received his doctorate at Oxford University. At NMNH, he works as a museum curator and when I was interning under him, we worked on a project that explored how people fetishize their