it's up to you

  Measuring success. It starts when we are in elementary school. Our grades are that measure of success. The value of the measurement is what is in constant change. I don't remember what grades I got in elementary school. What I mean is I don't remember the unit of measurement. Seems to me that it may have been satisfactory and unsatisfactory. At least at some point in my educational journey that was the standard. Letters and numerical values came later on. In high school it was a numerical score that much I remember. I graduated from high school in 1971. It was in a time when a 100% was the best you could get. I see that no longer holds true today. The grades are now given based on a 4.0 scale. 4.0 is like getting 100% but you can do far better than that! I see graduates with gpa's exceeding 5. It's an indication that the student has done extra work, possibly at a higher level. Many take college classes in high school these days. I'm not sure how that works because to my way of thinking you have to build the foundation before adding additional floors. Success is measured by the successful completion of the course. The purpose being preparing you to become a success in life. 

 How do we measure that success? Generally speaking, we measure that success with financial gain. If we have money, we are a success. That is the perception, although most will argue the point. You don't have to have money to be successful! Yeah, I know. My Mom had a little figure of a hobo sitting in her curio cabinet. He held a small sign that said: money isn't everything, but it sure beats whatever is in second place. There is a great deal of truth in that simple statement. Success is happiness. That is what most will say. I wouldn't disagree with that statement but how do you measure happiness? That is certainly a fluid standard. What makes me happy may anger you a great deal. Being successful and being happy at the same time is certainly possible although it does seem like one interferes with the other at times as well. Celebrities will sometimes complain about that, losing their privacy in the process of being a success. 

 I would say success is meeting the standard. The standard is set by others. Our struggle to meet the standard is what drives us in life. We all want to be perceived as a success, no one wants to be a failure. It really doesn't matter what we personally think ourselves to be, it is what others think that define success or failure. That is also the reason we attempt to change the standard. By lowering the standards, we can achieve success. In my opinion that is what we have been engaged in for some time now. The standards that concern me the most are moral and ethical standards. Those standards have little to do with education or wealth. They certainly have a negative effect on obtaining happiness, however. It's an old adage, to sell your soul, but that is what is happening. You are trading happiness for success. A success defined by others. 

 Success can only be achieved through self-discipline. It is the manner in which you discipline yourself that will determine the outcome. All great athletes must practice, practice and practice some more. It's the same with anything you choose to do. If you want to be successful, you have to remain disciplined. What is the measure of success? What I'm asking is, what is a successful life? That is the success I'm thinking about. There are a multitude of things I would have liked to have been successful at but was not. We all have our failures and that is normal enough, no need to be upset by that. The defining of success is ever changing. But it only changes in our own mind. That's something you learn with age. It isn't something that can be taught to anyone and some never learn that lesson at all. In the town where I was born and raised, they had a saying. When someone passed away the biggest compliment they could receive was having it said about them. He or she was of the "finest" kind. What that meant was that person was someone that had met the standard. They were a moral and ethical person and had earned the respect of the community. A success. Success achieved over a lifetime. If, at the end, it can honestly be said, he/she was a good person that person was successful at life. Back to satisfactory/unsatisfactory. You really are one or the other, it's up to you.