Success

When an individual finds satisfaction within himself or within society to such a degree that the individual considers oneself as a happy individual, then it may be said that the individual has attained success. Therefore, success is happiness with relation to oneself and to the larger life as a social animal. Self-development in the realm of social service gives the surest feeling of success, because it imparts the absolute consciousness of personal existence and efficacy.

Material accumulation may not be possible, his position may be humble, yet if he feels that he is living his life to its fullest and he is contributing his part to the overall development of the society, then that individual is fully conscious of success. Soldiers who perish in battle, martyrs who die rejoicing, and many others whose work does not offer material gains, like missionaries, artists, investigators, social agitators, etc., all experience success as they work zealously towards the fulfillment of the task not unsuited to their capacity. Such kinds of success influences more than material success as people understand the ideals, the courage, and the hope to accomplish such socially relevant and philanthropic work. Success then is a matter of effective self-development and effective participation in the social process.

The successful individual has certain definite traits. He or she is able to do a specialized work skillfully, by endowment or training, along with an overarching breadth of intellect to comprehend the overall schema of society and thereby be able to participate in it effectively as a responsible citizen. He must be able to summarize the human processes of experimentations, strivings, conflicts, cooperation, and with foresight must chalk out his own path towards personal development and social contribution. With abundant energy and courageous initiative, he must be able to self-reliantly forge ahead with tenacity and persistence. He must have concern and respect for others, be sympathetic and be adaptable to synchronize his movements with the whole. With due intelligence, he should reflect on the whole process and try to improve his judgment accordingly.

Observance of successful persons discovers a common trait in all of them. They all believed in what they did. Hence personal belief and dedicated involvement is of paramount importance in any successful venture, be it economic, social, personal, or otherwise. All successful persons exhibit courage, resolution, initiative, faith, and composure. They dreamt big and achieved big results with dependence on the quality of their exertions rather than quantity of their exertions.

To conclude, success is the result of a combination of traits and habits, which enables a man to develop himself and become a responsible contributing member of society. Physical impediments like deafness, lameness, stammering, extreme shyness, ugliness, etc., may appear to halt success, but it has been found that they are of not much significance as the vulgar may scoff; nevertheless, men of real significance understand and show respect to the other talents of the individuals. These physically impaired individuals realize that the essential requisite of success is the human spirit and not mere organs. There are cases where total blind persons have excelled in careers like statesmanship, music, and medicine, not because of their superhuman abilities, but because of their belief that true success lies in the indomitable human spirit. Therefore, success is in the spirit and in the mind.

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