What do JK Rowling, Eminem, or Muhammad Ali have in common? All of them become highly successful against the odds of their beginnings, and all of them were told they couldn't or, more, humiliated for expressing their wish for success.

Despite this , we all know that those people ended up having one of the best success stories that are publicly known.

Stories such as those reinforce the idea of getting revenge for former bullies and people who generally underestimated or mistreated you.

More and more people are expressing their wish to become successful, which shows on Social Media with trendsetting (and melodramatic) sounds like:

‘ Imagine the day they see you again and you're just.. better.’

Khloe Kardashian even dedicated an entire show to this concept, calling it 'revenge body'. The show focuses on the appearance of the contestants, which is optimised on the show to represent 'revenge' on the ex-partner.

While it is imaginable how satisfying it can be to prove people wrong, the external happiness of reaching this goal is shorter than you think.

That kind of success is only focused on the external world and often stems from externally induced insecurities.

What is true success?

According to societal standards, success is mainly defined by status, attractiveness (especially for women) or materialistic things that indicate a high amount of money. And of course these are all desirable.

But we rarely associate real success with deep-rooted happiness or spirituality. Or just getting better than the last few years, which is a tragedy. The awareness of the truly important things in life often comes when the things that we take for granted are no longer there.

The wealthy in particular often come to realize that all the success they've achieved is not as important as they once believed.

Don't tie success to an image.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to success, and ticking all the social boxes is not the answer. Success shouldn't (only) be translated into material wealth. Depending on your personal starting point, support and personal preferences, success will come in different forms to different people. Work from your point of view and get the best possible results for your life.

Don't tie success to your self-esteem.

The dilemma of having a low opinion of yourself can make you prone to wanting to prove people wrong. This is a normal desire, given the pain you have probably been through.

While seeking 'revenge' through success can be a justified way of getting motivated, you are denying yourself the right to just be you. You imply that your worthiness only comes with a certain level of success. Not only are you shifting the sense of worthiness into the future, you are also tying the sense of self-worth to conditions.

This makes it almost impossible to achieve lasting happiness. Success and perfection are a never-ending process that people are doomed to never experience.

Go and get your success for yourself.

As mentioned above, success has many faces. Success should be about becoming the best version of yourself. Looking back and being proud of yourself, how far you have come, and most importantly, giving your family and friends a better life and a better you.