"Do Not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times i fell down and got back up again."

~ Nelson Mandela

Success has many meanings behind the seven-letter word used to describe it. Dictionary.com defines success as "the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals." However, success means something different to every individual. Some people consider success a gain in wealth, while others believe an increase in power is a definitive success. These are not technically wrong, but success can be regarded as anything that you work hard at and triumph in.

The one thing even more rewarding than success is the ability to drive yourself to try again. No person has always succeeded at everything on their first try. Our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln, failed at many things in life before becoming president. He lost his job, lost the race for the state legislature, collapsed in business, lost his sweetheart to typhoid, had a nervous breakdown, was defeated for the position of Illinois House Speaker, lost the nomination for congress, lost renomination after he was elected, was beaten for U.S. Senate (twice), and lost for the nomination of vice president. Even with all these setbacks, he persisted and continued on, not looking back and working his way to America's presidency. Nelson Mandela was another man with many failures that didn't keep him down. He served twenty-seven years in jail for his beliefs, grew up in huts, and ate local foods such as maize, beans, and pumpkins. His father died of lung disease when Nelson was twelve. He was expelled from Africa's equivalent of Harvard. He ran away from home to escape a forced marriage, and under all this, became president of South Africa.

As the quote at the top of the page describes, success is not the most important thing to look at in one's life. The persistence and determination to succeed are the traits that most define a person. Today, many people are clawing their way back into success, but only because of their burning drive to not give up. This is the best way to relate to people and find friends. The process is seeing how much they would fight to achieve their goals. When people work hard and give everything they have inside themselves to succeed, the factor of success will be much more remarkable to them than to any other person. This trait is resilience, and it is what makes good people extraordinary.