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Success: Definition

1. achievement of intention: the achievement of something planned or attempted

2. attainment of fame, wealth, or power: impressive achievement, especially the attainment of fame, wealth, or power

3. something that turns out well: something that turns out as planned or intended

(Source: Encarta® World English Dictionary[North American Edition])

That seems to be the world’s definition of success. Let’s hear it for the religious side. From a July 1973 Ensign article, Success—A Journey or a Destination?, President Hartman Rector Jr of the Seventy has said:

“The Lord doesn’t seem to measure success in terms of attainment of position or power or wealth. A prophet in the Book of Mormon (where, by the way, the most succinct and unvarnished truths can be found) said, 'But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.' (2 Ne. 2:24–25.) If man is that he might have joy, then success to the Lord must include the attainment of real joy. On the basis of this definition, then, no one is really successful who is not happy.

“If this be the Lord’s definition, then there is precious little success in this world. Success in its practical application seems to be more a state of mind than anything else. Obviously, many people never make it because they are ungrateful. They are not thankful for what they have; therefore, they are unhappy and thus are not successful. I have never seen a happy person who was not thankful for what he had, to paraphrase the Prophet Joseph Smith, who stated that 'doubt and faith cannot exist in the same person at the same time.' (6th Lecture on Faith.) It is also doubtful that success and unhappiness can exist in the same person at the same time.”

In either case,  achievement of a goal seems to bring success, right? So if we make it to the celestial kingdom to show our Father obedience, wouldn’t that make us successful?

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