Success

Recently, I read an article debating President Obama's declaration that he would rather have a successful one-term presidency than be re-elected for a second term. (Of course, the maximum is two terms under the current U.S. Constitution.)

As the article pointed out, this cannot define "success" as popularity, since popularity would result, in and of itself, in being elected for a second term. Instead, the sentence defines a successful presidency as a consequential presidency; that is, a presidency in which many laws are passed and much progress is made towards the America that President Obama idealizes.

Success, therefore, can be defined in many different ways. Success is the accomplishment of a task. Success has a positive connotation and is seen as synonymous with victory; therefore, the task - whatever it is - must be something good, as defined by the speaker.

In business, the primary measurement of success is making a large profit. However, in these environmentally conscious times, many businesses do not view their operations as successful unless they are having a positive impact on the environment, or, failing this, are minimizing their negative impact and offsetting that impact with other benefits to society.

However a task is defined, success means finishing a task in a positive way. Thus, while success means different things to different people, success itself is always meant to be a good thing, or we would call it failure, not success.