15 Ways To Define Personal Success
While dictionaries may agree on a general definition of success, it’s ultimately a subjective concept. It’s up to an individual to determine what success looks like and find ways to reach these aspirations. In this article, we share 15 ways to define personal success and how to define success for yourself.
Success is when you reach your aim or purpose. Those who are successful have achieved their greatest desires in their life and career. While many people define success as being wealthy or famous, there is no single way to determine whether someone is successful. What’s important is that you have your own definition of success and are actively working toward your goals. Throughout your life and career, what success means to you is likely to change. Trying to accomplish more is a lifelong journey that requires purpose and focus.
Why do employers ask this question?
Employers or hiring managers ask questions like- What does success mean to you to understand your priorities. This question helps them understand how much you will work on providing for the company and whether you are a good fit or not. They get to know your thinking patterns, whether you are a person who will do anything for others or do you maintain your boundaries even during work environments.
This question also gives the employer a glimpse of your personality and whether you possess self-esteem, self-efficacy, or not. They get to know how much confidence you have in yourself. It can be an important deciding factor for the job. As employers always aspire to hire employees who are confident with their skills and achievements.
Your definition of success also conveys what you think about the position and how you will handle it. If your definition of success means to reach optimum career growth then your employer would understand that you will work passionately without any complaints because you are working towards a goal that’s quite important for you.
Ways to answer- How do you define success?
As success is subjective, the answers to the following question should also be subjective. But answering the questions in a personal manner might not be beneficial for the job. Thus we are here to suggest to you certain ways you can win the job.
Prepare in advance
Whenever you give an exam, you always prepare for the subject in advance to score better. In the same way, when you are going to an interview, you need to prepare to avoid nervousness and anxiety from ruining your interview. You can conduct mock interviews about some of the expected questions.
What does success mean to you?
Is a common question and you can always prepare yourself well in advance for the same. First, try to write down some of your goals. Then analyze your strengths and weaknesses and how you wish to use them to reach your goal. Construct a strong and persuasive answer which suits you the best.
Professional Achievements
If you are unaware of what success means to you, then you can divert the attention towards your professional achievements to give a glimpse of your career path. This will help you in deciding a goal that you wish to achieve. When you associate yourself with a goal, this makes it easy for you to think about what success means to you. You get to know what you want and thus you can define your zeal to achieve that particular goal.
Another way you can define success if you are unaware of it is by remembering your past goals and how you achieved them. This will induce a feeling, emotion that you felt when you last expressed success. Remembering those moments will help you understand the true meaning and experience of success. This will thus help in answering the questions confidently without any shuttering.
Look at your past success
You always don’t need to answer the question on a common everyday basis. You don’t need to answer what success means to you, but on the other hand, you can answer what the path towards success means to you. First, you need to make a list of all your past achievements and success records. This will help you in forming a basis that will help guide you in framing the correct answer.
As the answer to this question is expected to be subjective you can answer about certain ways you achieved success in the past for your company. This will instantly attract the employer’s attention and they might ask for more.
Research about the company
A great way to stand out from the rest of the crowd is by researching before you enter the interview room. Try to do extensive research related to the company you are interviewing for and understand their goals and objectives. Try to connect the dots between the company and your ambitions to make your answer look personal and not constructed.
You can refer to the company’s websites to understand its values and objectives. This will help you in knowing what success means for the company. After you get to know it, answer the question keeping in mind the company’s goals and values.
Draft your response
Whenever you decide on an answer, always write it down. This will save you a lot of time because you would need to rethink the answer over and over again, instead you just need to look at the draft in which you wrote your answers and go through them once before the interview starts.
Writing down your answers will also benefit you because once you have constructed an approximate answer for the question you need to remember the answer. If you don’t write your responses, you will come up with different answers during the interview. It will confuse you even more. Therefore it is advised to write down your responses to avoid confusion and answer appropriately.
Give examples
While answering the question try to give certain practical and subjective examples about what success means to you. You can compare your situation with the employer or any other staff member. You can define your past successes and give references using the same.
You might even define one of your success stories to the employer. This will help in building a connection with the employer. Stories are considered one of the best ways to market a product. Sharing one of your personal stories which the employer can help you connect and ace the interview.
Resource:
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/define-success
https://howigotjob.com/articles/how-do-you-define-success/