Success is defined as the accomplishment of a goal. Personal success is not quite so simply described. Personal success must be defined by the person aiming to achieve that success. And those definitions can vary widely.

Society, as a majority, says that you haven't achieved success in your life until you own a major company or become a multi-millionaire or a billionaire and have your name known worldwide. That the successful people must have a good (aka high-ranking) job and continue to move up the ladder of their company all the way to becoming CEO, or become famous and make money off of that fame.

But to me, that's only one way of seeing success. To me it sounds more superficial, but maybe that's just because I don't subscribe to that belief. In fact, my definition of success is much less specific and much more attainable, at least in my opinion.

So here is my humble definition of success, boiled down all the way to its core: to be happy. I cannot picture myself as a successful person if I am not happy with who I am and how I've influenced others.

And that happiness stems from me feeling like I'm a good person, to myself and to others. I don't want to let the negatives in my life to overwhelm me or to rub off on others. I want to keep myself happy, and in turn make other people happy too. I want to help people as much as I can while they are in my life. But in order to best be able to help others, I have to be happy with the kind of person I am. Once I can truly be happy with myself and help others, I can consider myself successful.

I know other people's happiness can come from doing well at work, being a household name or being wealthy, but that's just not how I see it. People can put high hopes that they'll feel happy or successful in a higher position or with more money, when in fact those things may not help you feel successful at all.

So I ask you: what makes you happiest in life, and what is your definition of success? And what's with this "key to success?" If everyone has a different version of success, how can there be one key to it? I get that it's probably the key to success in the workplace, but even then people will achieve success within a business in their own ways.

So please, don't look at the clothes someone is wearing or the car they drive to look at how successful they are. To some people, success is about happiness, and that happiness might not come from material things.