preview

Definition Essay: What Is Success?

Decent Essays

Oliver Keen
Mrs. Hannan
CCP World, 2
19 September 2016
Success is Happiness What is success, and what does it mean to be successful? Is it always about having a bunch of money, or do happiness and respect play a part? Success may be defined as the accomplishment of a goal, financial profitability, or the fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame. What society fails to consider is the necessity of happiness and integrity alongside these accomplishments.
Work to live not live to work is a saying my stepfather once told me. This wisdom made me indecisive about my major (as if I was ready to choose my career in the first place). It made me think far into my future. I don’t need a brand new luxurious car every year, nor do I need an insanely huge mansion with an indoor olympic swimming pool, a ten car garage, a shooting range, and race track out back. I don’t need to build my kid a mansion down the road, pay for their entire college tuition, and let them live off my wealth. I may have exaggerated the lifestyle, but my point still stands: being the mayor of Dreamtown sounds great until you realize you’ve been trapped in the endless cycle of working to afford these ridiculous luxuries. High-paying jobs usually are paired with high stress working environments that can be excessively demanding. There are people who are slaves to their handsome-paying office jobs and end up hating their workplaces. They get some satisfaction when they drive a nice car back to their nice house in a nice neighborhood, but then they’re miserable …show more content…

You can be the happiest, richest man in the world, but if your money was earned through malignant practices, then you’re not truly successful. Take the example of organized crime—these people parasite off others’ wealth, ruining and sometimes taking others’ lives, and make dirty money. They very well may be wealthy and happy, but they’re living off the stolen prosperity of

Get Access