How do you know if you were successful in life?

I know I was successful, if I was strong at the hardest points in my life..and strong until the end.

 

I had an old friend who told me that for him success was always doing the best job possible no matter the task and doing it when it needed doing instead of putting it off. After that he ranked being a good husband, a good father, a good friend and a good citizen. I don't know if he died considering himself a success, but I do know that he was both hard working and happy to the end and that his wife and family adored him and that his friends admired him.

 

I just look at my family.

 

This is a very subjective question. "Successful" means different things to different people. One of the most successful people I have ever met was penniless, and lived in an old school bus.

Some have said that you cannot truly know if you have been successful until your last day is done.

 

I dont think success is that subjective to compare success to the homeless person you met or knowing what success is until the last moment you live.

 

Would you have been considered Bernie Madoff "successful", 10 years ago? How about today?

 

For him success was fueled by greed. That is something else.

From what I heard, he did achieve something. Some of the money that he stole ended in his sons hands.

 

If I'm happy.

 

Success depends upon the criteria that defines what it means to be successful.

What society deems to be successful is not necessarily what is right for every individual.

There are some who have achieved every one of society's benchmarks for success and yet are miserable failures as people.

Then there are some who appear to have failed by social criteria and yet are successful in other, more meaningful ways.

If your children are successful is that a reflection of how you raised them or their own talents and abilities? Equally so if they are failures do you consider that to be a reflection of your own shortcomings as a parent?

To give you some perspective on this neither my wife nor I ever aspired to being anything other than good parents. We invoked discipline without violence. We encouraged education and creativity and tried to be involved without being overbearing. It was my daughter's friends who considered us to be the "cool parents" even though it was not something that ever occurred to us as being important.

In that one aspect of our lives we might be considered to be successful but what does that mean in other areas? Have I achieved great wealth? Nope, and I never aspired to doing that either. To me having enough money to pay the bills is sufficient. Beyond that wealth is just a matter ego and in that regard it not a success factor for myself. Does that make me a "failure" by society's standards? Perhaps, but I really don't care because I have everything I need and I can make a difference in the lives of others so that is all that counts on my own personal level.

So no, I won't know if I was successful or not but if I were to not to wake up tomorrow I would be content to say that my life had been a happy one shared with my nearest and dearest.

 

What a *****, lolz

 

Success is an arbitrary concept as unique as the individual. My life has been quite full and experience has been fulfilling, As I enter into the dusk I can reflect on many beauties and am quite happy with my accomplishments, I feel successful and so I am.
My life now is complicated by health issues but is heavily complimented by love and is thus successful.

 

You have defined success for yourself and by your own measure you are as successful as it gets.

Life is good when you don't have to worry about paying the bills and yes, that makes you successful IMO.

 

I'm alive. I should be dead. That's a success.

If you're not happy, no amount of wealth or anything else means much. I know what it means to want to die, all day every day, while having all of the things you could want. And I know what it's like to try to pull the trigger.

Success is being happy.

For the first time in my life I learned to just be happy - to live in the moment. For me, that is success.

 

Having all of the hot young women you could want isn't bad either. I am living a life I never ever ever could have imagined, just ten years ago.

 

Please dont fish. You abuse animals when you do.

 

Fishing is a tranquil pastime for the most part. Most fishermen either eat their catches or release them alive back into the water. When a fish is caught it is unlikely to be depriving small fish of their mother.

 

Stop posting stupid comments. You have been posting ludicrous comments since you came to my thread.

 

Your puerile ad homs are being ignored!

If you anything of actual substance to say about what I have posted then I will address it.

 

It would seem you have not found the happiness that comes with success.

 

I believe he said he is 33, unemployed, alone, and living in a trailer... playing video games.

 

That is unfortunate.

 

Everything is correct apart from the living in a trailer part.