How do you define success in life?
Success is a personal journey toward meaningful goals, achieved through dedication, perseverance, planning, and ethical conduct. It is not limited to wealth or status but includes satisfaction, growth, and positive contributions. Examples such as Dhirubhai Ambani’s rise, Chandrayaan-3’s achievement, and the bridge built in the Ramayana demonstrate the power of sustained effort and cooperation. Failures, like the Pandavas’ defeat, reveal the importance of preparation, wise decisions, and learning from mistakes. Accomplishment requires understanding one’s strengths, adapting to challenges, and continuing despite setbacks. Ultimately, genuine success is honestly earned, morally responsible, and measured by personal fulfillment rather than artificial social standards.
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Key Takeaways
- Success is a personal journey defined by meaningful goals, not just wealth or status.
- It requires dedication, perseverance, planning, and ethical actions, as illustrated by figures like Dhirubhai Ambani and Chandrayaan-3.
- Success entails learning from failures and adapting to challenges, highlighting the importance of preparation.
- Celebrating success comes from hard work and cooperation, recognizing its intrinsic value beyond material gain.
- Ultimately, true success blends personal fulfillment with moral integrity, measured by one’s ethical contributions to society.
Accomplishment is demanding
Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.
-Winston Churchill
In lexicon, word success is accomplishment. The word has root of Latin “Succeedere” means result. Triumph of resolved, success is not instantaneous but gradual and demanding. It is the result of toiling with dedication and consistency. Success is not essentially a material gain but is an abstract thing that gives satisfaction and joy.
Accomplishment is variously defined. Despite these varied views, the common thing is achieving the desired goal set by an individual. An individual who wanted to be a successful businessman and a rich person worked hard with dedication and missionary zeal to achieve his goal. Those who strive to pursue their goal, crossing the barriers and an apathetic attitude, gradually rise to success by gradual progression towards their goal. The rise of a boy, born in a humble family of a school teacher, to become a business tycoon testifies to the dedicated efforts that pays.
Stories of success
Born on 28 December 1932 in the humble family of Hirachand Govardhan Ambani, a village schoolteacher in Junagarh district of Gujarat, the boy was destined to become a business tycoon. He was Dheerajlal Hirachand Ambani, aka Dheerubhai Ambani, whose tireless efforts, hard work and values in life propelled him to realise his dream. He went to Yemen, where he worked at a petrol pump and gained life experience. Returning back to India in 1958 he started his business in collaboration with his cousin and later established world famous Reliance Industry.
Success requires untiring efforts. A student pursuing studies has to work hard, concentrating on studies to get good marks and appear at the top of the list of successful students. There is no shortcut to achieving success, though it can be made easier by adopting smart methods and, in the modern world of technology, new ways of learning or doing things. (Forbes)
Chandrayaan – 3
The blazing example of grand success is the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on 23 August 2023. It was a landmark success and the first in the world when India landed its lunar module on the south pole of the Moon. The collective efforts and dedication of scientists, technicians and other workers fructified. The whole country danced with joy. It was a collective feeling and an appropriate occasion to celebrate the success.
Celebrating success
Success gives a chance to celebrate the occasion. The festivals are not merely rituals but are the occasion to mark the occasion of success. Festivities are linked to the harvest season. After toiling in their fields, farmers harvest their crops, bringing prosperity to them and a valid reason to feel happy. The festivity starts with thanksgiving to the Almighty for His bounties. It is a humble tradition which keeps humans grounded and polite while observing the occasion. It’s a proud moment that tells about the importance of labour and its consequent accomplishment.
The journey to success is not easy. Though the path is thorny and full of pebbles, the joy is rewarding. Facing impediments and difficulties, a person learns new life lessons which give them strength to fight impending hurdles. It’s a path that passes through a dense forest of frustration and dejection because of repeated failures. The failures are, nonetheless, not fatal though momentarily it gives notion of its fatality. Failures are opportunities in disguise; by learning from failures, one can restart with more vigour and strength. History tells that Mount Everest was not conquered in a single attempt.
Epic stories
In broader interest sometimes, accomplishment is a joint effort, as described in the epic of Ramayana.
After ascertaining the whereabouts of Sita, the question of crossing the vast sea stood before everyone. Lord Rama prayed to the ocean for a passage, but the haughty ocean did not heed. Angry Rama intended to dry it with his divine arrow. The desperate sea emerged and, apologising humbly, told Rama the way to cross the sea by making a bridge.
The herculean task started, and millions of monkeys, bears and other soldiers began making a bridge up to Lanka. They succeeded in their effort to construct the bridge. Lord Rama crossed the sea with his army, shattering the arrogance of Ravana.
With the right approach, the right amount of work and a lot of cooperation and concerted effort, it could become possible to make the bridge across the sea. In the absence of this, it could have ended in frustration. It is evident in yet another epic of the Mahabharata.
Yudhishthir lost everything, including his crown, brothers, and even their wife, Draupadi, in a fixed game of dice. Unprepared and ignorant of the treachery hatched by Duryodhan, who was conniving with Shakuni, Yudhishthir met with an utterly humiliating defeat. He didn’t take help or suggestions from anyone, including Lord Krishna. Pandavas defeat ended in humiliation and insult to Draupadi. The failure was the obvious fallout of poor preparation and decisions taken in haste, without giving them proper thought.
Care and strategies
Evidently, success does not solely depend upon hard work. Proper planning and knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses are important, vital inputs that significantly contribute to success. A sapling of a mango tree or other fruiting trees needs care. Besides careful choosing of a sapling, proper watering and care of it yield fruit after its successful completion of the production cycle. Similarly, accomplishment is like a plant that needs proper handling and care to fruit. It is an on going process and perfection is near impossible. It is a subjective satisfaction, and people attach success with material things like wealth, power and position. Success and failures are intrinsic to Nature and its phenomena, as Charles Darwin has propounded it in his famous principle of Natural Selection.
Natural Selection
Since aeon, the Earth is undergoing change. The climate changed and so the topography and the life on the Earth. Starting from a losely adhered molecules to unicellular Protozoans to higher forms culminating in human beings Nature’s endeavour for success is evident. Nature has yet to create a perfect organism. With each change in the environment and ecosystem the shape, size and behaviour of organisms changes. They are put to Natural Selection where only the fittest survives. It leads to the process of evolution which is still continuing.
Success is blissful
In human beings the concept of success is not objective. Besides material achievements and success in getting name, fame and money its parameter should also be of moral and ethical success. It doesn’t mean to follow blindfoldedly to unrealistic and irrational things in the name of spiritualism. Nonetheless, in the prevaililng scenario where endeavour to succeed is deceive, treachery and slavishness, the meaning of success loses its sheen. It should not be at the cost of other’s rightful share. Honestly earned success by hard and diligent work is blissful. It is a personal journey that should not be determined on worldly parameters artificially set by human beings.
Further reads:
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Kamal Kishore Srivastava
A retired government officer turned writer and photographer, Kamal Kishore Srivastava is a regular blogger and essayist who explores life’s deeper meanings through immersive reflections on nature, impermanence, and happiness. On his blog Nature’s Narrative, he blends philosophical storytelling with practical insights. Writing 1,200–1,500 words or more regularly, Kamal is committed to refining his craft, expanding his audience, and building a sustainable space where thought and feeling intersect.
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