It is significant to define success for yourself. Actually before we go any further, do you want to be successful? I know that you have probably answered yes in a split second. One last question, what is your definition of success? You probably took a bit longer than you did when answering the first question. For many of us, as we begin to wonder why we were hesitated with coming up with a definition, that is if we did at all, we begin to realize that we never thought what success is to us.

For many of us, we live our lives trying to achieve what someone else projected on us as success. For the average individual, their understanding of success has been what their parents wished for them. In the past, this was merely marriage for the average African child. And for the African boy child it was having a farm or many cows. With times changing, that changed to going to school; getting a degree, employment, a house and getting married- this is what parents wished for their children as success and many still do. In the era of Television, Television has been projecting what success is to many people and many people just take it without interrogating it and formulating their own definition of success. Now with the growing use of social media, social media seems to be deciding what success is for many people.

If you were to look at the above more closely, you would also note that the same goes for our notion and believe of what love is. For many of us, our definition of love has been that which popular TV culture has portrayed to us. In the context of social media, it also portrays an idea of what love is. What is even more interesting than us just accepting what has been projected to us, is that we tend to forget that what these mediums have portrayed is simply someone’s idea of what success or love is.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand; success. What is success to you? It is important that we define success on our own terms because our definition of success will inform our definition of failure. If success to you is owning 50 cars, if you don’t get to own them, then you will consider yourself as having failed. With this in mind, I think many have dubbed themselves failures by another person’s definition of success.

Success in its truest definition is relative. It is not a one shoe fits all concept. What is success to someone is failure to another, and what is failure to one is success to another. Success therefore is more about ones’ goals and dreams. It is about what we have set as goals that we want to achieve and dreams that we wish to fulfill. With this in mind, many people can have peace of mind and it will reduce or eliminate competition because we will understand that our definition of success doesn’t have to match that of the next person. This then means that if not having a house is not a goal of mine, then I am not a failure if I don’t have one. It also suspends feeling like one is delayed as my goals have timelines that differ from those of the next person. Simply put, someone’s achievements do not have to put pressure on me to achieve faster because my timelines are my own and different.

So, in a nutshell, what is success to you? If you seek to be a preacher and have 100 members and you hit that mark, then you are successful; nobody should make you feel otherwise. If you seek to be a millionaire and you hit that mark, then great for you too; you are successful in your own terms and definition.