A wise man once said, "If success was a destination I would have already reached it." We are often told that life is not a sprint but rather a marathon. However, many times we seem to take a different approach toward success. The road to success is often long, and many people get burnt out. What actually is success though?

For many people, success is materialistic. It is a fancy car, a big house, and a well-paying job. For others, success is measured by things such as family and friends. Many people see success only in the form of tangible things. To many people, success is the destination.

Success is not a destination, though. Success is a continuous process. There is never a point where you can reach your limit or completely fulfill your potential. You can always improve and strive to do better. You can always have more money, your house can always be bigger, and your character can always improve. So, how do you improve yourself and your success?

Improving your success is a process. Day by day you can improve little by little. Success doesn't happen overnight, and you will probably never feel completely successful. You may always want more, especially if you measure success in terms of materials. When you measure success with materials, you will be kept hungry and never satisfied. When you measure success with materials, it makes you compare what you have with what others have and with what society thinks is the "best."

However, this doesn't necessarily mean that having nice things is wrong. Instead, I mean to say that you shouldn't define your success solely by the tangible things you have acquired throughout your life. Just as importantly, you shouldn't measure your success by some goal you haven't reached yet. This being said, if you tell yourself that you only have a certain set of goals and you end up hitting them, you may end up feeling unsuccessful because you have allowed yourself to revert back to a life of mediocrity. When you do this, you stop trying to improve and achieve higher for yourself because you feel momentarily satisfied. Just as failure doesn't become real until you quit, success isn't reality unless you keep moving forward.

Don't think that because you have accomplished something you can't keep improving yourself or you can't get any better. There is always better, always greater, and always a way to improve. Success is something we all strive for, but because we have a misconception of what success is it often alludes us. As a result, we are often left depressed, frustrated, and feeling like we have missed the mark. So, I hope I have provided you with a clearer vision on your road to success.