Article November 29, 1982 Issue

Defining success

MARCEIL RUTH DeLACY

Are you a failure or a success?

Your answer depends on your definition of success. Is success the attainment of a position of distinction and a large salary? Is it driving a car that makes people's heads turn, or buying the house you've always wanted?

While affluence and prestige may sometimes accompany success, anyone who believes it to be largely dependent on material symbols is in danger of being frustrated. To define success in the competitive sense of rising to the top of the heap would necessarily doom the majority of mankind to failure or mediocrity. Simple arithmetic tells us that only a very small percentage of people can be in the top ranks of any field.

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