Too often, we look at some people, by their appearance, make general assumptions of success. But no matter how things may be at superficial level, there is no way to correctly gauge the measure of true success.

I am about to turn 35 and I was musing on the many details about how my life and career are fairing, wanting to know and evaluate where am I in the success gauge. In a book Life: A guide, Andrew Fuller said that people within the age range of 29 to 35 muses and evaluates their respective lives. It is the first point in someone’s life when things about careers are seriously evaluated. Many would even think that 35 is the age when success is supposed to have been reached already, any later than that will make it all the more harder for success to be achieved.

I myself have my moments when I look at people thinking they are having the time of their lives, basking in the glory of their success, and making the most of the fruits of their success. I was actually hoping that many people are thinking the same things I do.

There are no clear standards of gauging success; there are no tangible parameters upon which to base the conclusions. Many seem to have already achieved a considerable amount of success yet are still considerably empty and would go to the ends of the earth to search for another quest. How exactly to measure success, how come that there is an insatiable hunger to chase after it in an endless loop?  

I have an ambiguous feeling about success, there are times that I am immaculately contented, and there are days when I feel like I am fired up to chase my loftiest goals. Nowhere have I ever felt a moment of “I have made it “. And that really bothered me. According to Fuller when we reach the age of 36, there are no more excuses left as to why success evades us time and again. We cannot anymore point out inexperience as an excuse either. To some, success seems like just a myth; an endless pursuit to happiness and contentment. It is an illusion of an elusive dream. However, to a great few, success is a daily occurrence; they are people who have reached a level of contentment no matter their station in life. Thus, life is a state of mind not of circumstances.