Well... hi! You're reading a short informational block of text about this page. Below you will find the section of my Meaning Of Life Portfolio dedicated to my statement of Purpose, which happens to be about what I think the word "Success" means to me. Enjoy!
Download As A Word DocumentAccording to the Oxford dictionary, the definition of Success is: the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. While true, it does not match against what I personally believe the word means. In my mind success is to meet and fulfill my goals by the simple actof hard work.
Ever since I can remember, this has been the way I think about success. Everything I have, I have because of this definition. I possess many talents and achievements and I owe it all to this philosophy. As a musician, I practice instrumentation and musical styles for hours upon hours until I can play them, and because of the time I dedicated to that, I was able to successfully achieve a distinguished award in several solo and onsomble competitions. I'm an athlete and I participate in track and field, and because I pushed myself hard and really worked to better myself in each event I did, I now hold a state record in one of them. I work hard in school, and because of the intent I put behind every assignment, quiz and test, I earned good grades and was able to secure my spot at a college of my choice. None of these things were easy, and without the dedication and effort I put into them I could not have felt successful.
There are many things I would like to achieve throughout the course of my life. I would like to complete a bachelor's degree in college. I would like to maintain a steady income by working a well-paying job that I enjoy. But most of all, I would like to enjoy all these things, and that cannot be done without success. In my mind, the enjoyment I experience in my life is directly correlated to the success I have. Without reaching these goals, I cannot feel that I have achieved much, and that is not something I will ever be content with.
But not only do I strive to achieve and enjoy my goals, I want to earn them as well. It is not the outcome that matters, it's how I got there that means the most to me. If someone gave me all of the things I want, I'd have them, but that wouldn't necessarily mean that I am a successful person. Being presented with awards and opportunities holds no ground in my mind if I have no effort and experience to show that I truly earned and deserved them, and this, I believe, gives me a unique outlook on my future and the way I plan to live it.
If I were to look back on my life in about thirty years, it would take a lot for me to think I had been successful. I would want to own a home, be able to live completely and totally independently, inspire respect by my actions, hold down a good job, and have the skills to manage the income I receive from it. I would want to know I'd accomplished my goals by not only the life I'm living, but by the hard work I have to show for it. And I believe that if I lived up to these things, I would consider my life fulfilled and myself well off.