Do you consider yourself successful? If so, what is the secret of your success? I feel that, to a certain extent, I am successful because I have achieved a few of my goals. Simultaneously, there is a lot of work to be done and that I why I am on a personal development forum.

For me, it actually depends on how you perceive success. For some people, success means a large bank account. For others, success is reaching their goals and the things they have always wanted to do and achieve. For some others, they're successful because they got their dream job. I consider myself successful because I have a stable job to sustain my family's needs, and I have a family whom I love very much.

I consider myself successful for my age (just turned 26) but have many things I want to accomplish. In terms of finances, my wife and I have had much success after humble beginnings and now have the ability to raise a family without any concerns--which has always been the goal.

In the educational arena, I'll be finishing my Master's degree this year, but at the same time I am disappointed. I majored in Psychology and Finance, but my first love was Computer Science and Business. Unfortunately I did not major in either. After completing this degree I want to earn a degree in some area of Computer Science and be a programmer/web developer. Thankfully my wife's degree is in Business, which has helped in many of our smaller business pursuits.

Military service has been very rewarding for my wife and I, but at the same time I think it's more difficult now to completely enjoy a job that provides only a monetary benefit. I always wonder how motivated I'd be able to get for simply a paycheck since, even when I was poor, I never put a huge value on money (though I guess it'd be different if I had kids to feed and educate at the time).

If I were to change careers I think I would always have to maintain some element of volunteer work or other charity involvement. Life would seem a bit empty serving only myself needs. I consider this a level of success that can be difficult to accept, but is much more rewarding. I think this is easy to see when there are individuals like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and many others that seem to be satisfied to an extent that they focus much of their time and resources on giving back to society. While I'll never be able to give back near as much as they do, I enjoy giving what I can...especially in terms of time. Teaching and encouraging others who have not had the same opportunities provides unparalleled happiness. People (children especially) really are a product of their expectations.