Here’s an email forward I recently got:
At age 4 success is . . .not peeing in your pants.
At age 12 success is . . .having friends.
At age 17 success is . . .Having a driver’s license.
At age 35 success is . . .having money.
At age 50 success is . . .having money.
At age 70 success is . . .having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is . . .having friends.
At age 80 success is . . .not peeing in your pants.
The joke above is funny but sad. At each age it points to external measures. Success should be measured internally- by how satisfied you are (hopefully you don’t have a low bar).