What is Success?

To me success is goals you achieve, no matter how big or small. If I do it then it was a success, I was a success. So like when I go out, to the park to feed the ducks or the shops - this is a really difficult thing to do for me and if I'm able to do it that for is success. Social interaction as well, I'm rarely able to do it, but if I do it's a success I can be proud of.

Being grateful

My definition of success is remaining sane in a slightly insane way, or at least this is what I have just decided. 

Success = Sanity (retention of)

The fun can then REALLY begin as you try to define sanity for yourself !

Personally, I like to keep the definition simple, yet amorphous = "having a healthy mind."

Neither success nor sanity has anything to do with;

"normal" nor "reasonable" nor "money" nor "friends" nor "family" nor "achievement" nor "happiness."

Just stay sane y'all - THAT's success, in my humble opinion.

I suppose we all have different definitions of success, informed by what we have and haven’t achieved in life.

i was very successful academically but spend my entire time at university going to lectures alone, eating alone, working alone. I felt like a freak.

I’ve been very successful at work. I earn a lot of money and have a senior position with a fancy job title. But I have no friends and no wife. I’ve been successful at work but failed utterly at one of the most basic things people do and that it seems all of my coworkers have managed to do.

I’d swap all of my academic and career success for a life in which I matter to other people and have human connection and love. 

Yeah, it almost always seems to be the spam bots that resurrect old posts from years ago.

Before I dive right in and commit myself to making a response, I try to make a point of checking when the original post was posted.  For the benefit of any newbies, this appears to the right of the member's username, in a smaller-sized font.

success these days is just simply surviving and being able to have a basic life.

its owning your own home, being able to afford food, being able to put the heating on a few times in winter but not too long because thats way too expensive these days lol

edit: ah i see its a years old post again, dont blame me a spam bot bumped this and i thought it was new lol

Achieve what you have planned 

For Example, you want to complete [link removed by moderator] and finally, you have completed it

that is kind of success you need to feel. 

We should carve whatever path works for us, regardless of other people's opinions. What matters is staying true to yourself and doing what makes you happy and fulfilled.

Hi all,

I have read all the responses, of which I thank you all for taking the time. But I would like to expand, if possible. A little bit about me. I was late to get a diagnosis, 41. I "retired" at 35, as I started a journey for diagnosis followed the given path of personality disorder, PTSD and depression. But now I have "buyers remorse". I had a very successful career as a chef and now the path of "ignorance is bliss" is preferable. I cannot help noticing that Buddhism and the academic path are both mentioned, as the latter I am involved in. Buddhism is something that I am working towards (I am joining a class on Saturday). Yet I am driven by the question that leads this thread. As Aspies, should we not carve a different path? Again, all opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks.  

Hi, personally I view success as being happy and fulfilled in what you are doing. For me, I also need to achieve my optimal level of functioning, within my own neurologically defined limits, it order to feel that I am doing my best.

Haha, although there's usually a cream to fix those

yea office politics is a nightmare. It could be worse you could have a sore toe or pimple on the end of your nose. lol

I design training. It's okay most of the time, but I just don't feel particularly fulfilled and the office politics make me uncomfortable. I'd like to do something where I feel like I'm making a positive difference to somebody/something.

I am not a Buddhist but it was set up to deal with man/woman's constant state of dissatisfaction. I am practicing mindfulness and meditation to combat dissatisfaction and seeking satisfaction/happiness. I didn't say I was good at it but i am getting better. Can I ask what do u work at ?  

My idea of success is to be happy, take care of myself and the people around me, and have healthy relationships with my friends and family. 

Many people consider me successful because I have a good job, but I spend 35 hours a week feeling dissatisfied, so I don't consider myself successful yet. I'm still looking for the job that makes me glad to go to work rather than dreading it every Sunday night.

when you have a boat parked just out side the gates of heaven :) 

I'm probably way too easy on myself, blaming others for my lack of success (on both my own terms and on the terms of others). I have been told by an old friend that I need to think of life as little more than a projection. In effect, he was suggesting that I just give up my life struggle and go with the flow. But the problem with that is that most of us find it almost impossible to take such a quantum leap of imagination. Whether we like it or not, we are rather stuck with a World in which there is a definite move away from allowing the vast majority of the global population to have any real ambition at all. It has become increasingly hard for many people to achieve even the acquisition of their most basic human needs.

I'm just hoping, Dave, that you didn't read my post (above) and react to something in it with the notion that you had let your family down. I read your post and immediately thought that you were taking far too much blame on yourself. You might just find that your family have already figured out their individual ambitions. It does sound like they really wanted to achieve similar things to yourself, but ambition isn't something that automatically materialises at a certain age. It takes a lot longer for some people They might just surprise you yet by opening up about their own set of ambitions, just when you are least expecting it. And who is to say, either you or they, what constitutes a major or minor ambition anyway.

I've always considered success to be the reaching of your goals - whatever they are.     I think a lot of people either set unrealistic goals or don't have any goals so they spend their lives living up to other people's view of what life is all about.

I've never considered that being measured by others to be success - it a purely personal measurement of satisfaction.

Well I had thought it was academic achievement, helping others and sporting achievements, all of which I have had, with multiple post grad degrees, major sporting achievements, but now I feel I have let my wife and family down as I had the wrong focus and should have focussed on their achievements and helping them. They have followed me in helping others as medics and not earning much. Money had always been easy for them as we always funded everything , but now I realise they maybe do not have major ambition so I feel have failed them