How do you define success?

Who decides what success is? Can you see anything 'spiritual' about success? What if the success you have wanted and achieved amounts to barking up the wrong tree, i.e. your life has led you down a blind alley? Success to me is how you have developed as a person, have evolved. Here, it is difficult to know whether you've grown, become stunted or regressed. Success can come when - early, in the middle or at the end? If this success is unrecognised and you then die, maybe that's when a judgment is made, a final assessment.

i think defining success has a lot to do with whats your answer to: why do we exist, what is our mission in our life. Of course everyone has a different opinion on this. Mine is that we don't have any mission. And this answer would lead me to conclusion that success for me is just enjoying my life. So to be successful i just have to do what i want to do.
For you i can't answer. You are the only one that can answer the question. The answer differs based on your experience, your point of view, education, society surrounding you, religion, drugs you might have been on, and a lot of other stuff.
So if you want to know the answer the only thing you have to do is...
Define success for yourself which is almost the same as finding yourself
Hope i helped
let me know what you find out

I agree with Orion, you need to define success in your own eyes as people these days judge success by means of money and status when you pass away. No one really cares when you are alive as you mentioned people make that final assessment. Though personally I believe success should be defined only by you when you are still alive, young or old. Who cares what people think when you dead or alive, they do not know exactly what you have gone through to be where you are today. I believe I am successful, as I never give up and am living my life happily. I might not have millions of dollars, though I have enough to enjoy my life on a daily basis. I might not be famous, though I worked so hard to be where I am in my career and am proud of my achievements. I am not successful when it comes to my body and fitness level, though I will keep trying every day.

I guess some people look up to religion to define success for them.
I think it is a better idea to define success for yourself - based on what makes you feel happy and successful and proud of yourself.

If I build a flying snowboard that runs on carbon dioxide and excretes oxygen and that I control using brainwaves that are detected by my helmet, I will be VERY proud of myself. That is my penultimate mission in life right now. The ultimate mission is to be able to ride it.