My thoughts on success have changed in the last year. I conducted many interviews with people discussing their careers and found a trend in their thoughts. Few people in the deepest recesses of their heart feel like they are successful, I started to question my own ideas of what it means to succeed.

The whole concept of success seems skewed, even from the beginning with the way we define it. Webster's dictionary defines success as "attaining of a desired end." It seems the way this is defined and the way most of us think about it is in black and white terms, rather it is success or it is failure, good or bad. Failure and success work hand and foot and we have little to no control over these two forces. In fact, as William James stated this pursuit of success may be a disease of our society and if we aren't cautious it may cause us harm. "What the world giveth us the world can also take it away", and frequently does. The only control we have is in our response to failure and success. We need to understand what is real success and what's not. It's a judgment only we can make.

After completing my thesis in December, I will graduate with a master's degree in journalism. When I tell people that I am student in journalism I get the same response, What are you going to do even Pulitzer prize winning journalist are losing their jobs. It is realistic to say that I may not find a job in this field, however, all my hard work and the concepts that I learned will pay-off and I view this as a success.