How do you define success? Without reaching for the dictionary, many think of success as achieving a certain dollar amount or marrying a spouse who looks and acts a certain way or even having what he or she perceives as the perfect job/career. All of these can be negatives because outwardly-focused success often brings out the worst in people: jealousy, envy, addictions, theft, and even murder.

Then, there are the philosophical ideals. Success is a journey not a destination, for example.

What we need to do is turn that definition into something that is meaningful to us. For me, success means achieving my goals and doing what I was put on Earth to do. If you have your own definition and ideal of success, then it shouldn't matter what your family or friends or neighbors have or don't have in this world or what they feel you should be doing with your life.

I am a stay-at-home dad for my toddler son. That is my vocation of choice. Success in this case means that I help my son grow and mature as a boy and (sooner rather than later) young man. His success in life becomes my (and my wife's) success because we taught him the fundamentals of life. If I were outwardly-focused, my son would probably be in day care while I kept searching for that perfect job to bring in more money--but at what cost?

I believe each of us should be more in touch with our own mortality. Somewhere in the future, we are going to be retired and laying in our deathbeds. Are we going to wish we spent more time with our families or wish we spent more time at work to make more money?

If you can lay in your deathbed and realize that you lived your life without regrets and did what you came down here to do, to me that would have made your life a success.

Others mileage may vary.