If you look up the meaning of 'success' in a standard dictionary, chances are the definition will be quite simple. As a word in its most basic form, success means exactly that - to succeed at something, to reach a goal or to essentially get something right as set out for. However, in the real world, the meaning of success differs for each and every person across the face of the Earth.
For example, look into some of the most inspirational success quotes or larger success essays of all times, and you will be amazed to see that they will involve individuals with success meaning totally different and personal to every single of them. Why is this?
Really simple - they had been pursuing very different goals with very different outcomes; therefore, while all may have been successful, they were successful in different ways.
More often than not, when someone talks or quotes about success in life, they are talking about business or financial success and the resulting security that it brings along.
As a matter of fact, some of the most commonly used and referred to assets on the web today are entrepreneur success stories shared by successful people in order to help others follow similar paths.
As with many things in life, it can often be a case of following the examples of others and learning from the trials and errors they made along the way, in order to pursue success with the greatest chance of a positive outcome.
There are dozens of synonyms for success and different ways of referring to it, but technically speaking, all that matters at the end is - a positive outcome.
It's possible to succeed entirely by hard work and effort, just as it is possible to succeed by pure luck and perhaps a twist of fate - the result remains the same even though the process is very different.
This is exactly why so many successful entrepreneur stories come from individuals who sweat by exact opposite approaches when it comes to making a business succeed. Some chose one road and some go entirely another way, yet both remain affirmations for success.
To surmise:
Success is the most colorful and desired picture that different people paint to their canvases entirely differently. The important thing is to understand that there isn't only a single path to success or a golden rule to guarantee a positive outcome - it's all about making the right decisions at the right times and for all the right reasons.