Anna Nordhausen's Definition of Success

Success is a word that I come across frequently in my time spent as a high schooler at LHS. We are constantly being pushed to achieve “success,” which is commonly defined as getting all A’s, attending an Ivy league school, and proceeding to work anywhere that is not the local gas station, Dunkin Donuts, or the local McDonalds. However, like most, I frequently retire to my bed after yet another mentally and physically draining school day, content with the 5 consecutive episodes of “Friends” I’ve binge watched. In addition to the daily routine I have created for myself, I’ve also managed to use the most boring, bland, banal introduction possible for this paragraph. For me, that is a feat of its own, and I’m fully content with my intro. Hopefully, reader, you’re now somewhat intrigued. For a highschooler, this article will be simple and understandable. If you are an adult I suggest you read this article through the paradigm of a student in order to fully grasp the idea I’m attempting to convey.

As much as we all want to stay in bed all day, our covers acting as our personal shields from the harsh and unforgiving outside world; more often than not, we find ourselves heaving our fatigued and sleep deprived bodies off of our mattresses only to subject ourselves to high-stress work environments. It is only reasonable to assume that there is some hidden catalyst causing us to make this seemingly poor decision to actually contribute to society. The catalyst is, in fact, hidden in plain sight, and whether you acknowledge it or not, succeeding is at the dead center of our modern hypothetical universe. Your very own planet, unwillingly bound by gravity to an orbit, circling success day by day. Without the concept of success, there would be no reason to leave your house or do anything at all. Since we are all working towards different goals, at different points in our lives, with different priorities, different morals, different views, the transparency of the situation should lead one to believe that we are bound to have different definitions of success.

Ben Franklin, a man you probably only know for his key and kite incident, is evidently very opinionated on success, a concept he refers to as “moral perfection.” The idea of “moral perfection” introduced in Franklin’s autobiography is presented in terms that are unequivocally nauseating. Franklin writes regarding moral perfection, “I wish’d to live without committing any fault at any time.” At first glance, you may think, “wow this guy has goals, props to him!”, but when diving deeper into the quote you are struck by a pang of jealousy and annoyance. Making no mistakes doesn’t necessarily lead to success, in fact, the key to success might just be to ignore it and live your life to the fullest, taking every opportunity to succeed and also some to fail. After all, a life of only success would get a little boring wouldn’t it? That’s why I like to toss in a dash of failure here and there to spice things up. Well, maybe a lot of failure to spice things up. Having a good time won’t make you successful but hey! It’s a good time! Then again maybe having a good time makes you successful, right?

Since in reality, no one can relate to our old pal Ben Franklin, I strongly urge you to ask yourself whether or not being successful makes you happy, because that’s what it all boils down to, right? But obviously success is going to make you happy, so just live your life and get over it. Hopefully if you’re not feeling successful lately, I’ve provided you with some solace, because in all reality you’re gonna be fine(ish). Now that I’ve dragged out every bit and piece of success, I present to you my mediocre definition: Success is whatever you do to manage the mundane tasks of life and achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself, no matter how substantial or insignificant they may be.