Most important indicators of success (%)Happy family life 82%Good health and【L

A: So, how are you getting on with your essay Derrick?
D: Really well, actually. I’ve almost finished and I’m quite pleased with it. I just need to write the conclusion and tidy things up a bit.
A: Great! So you found enough to talk about then?
D: Too much really. I found quite a few articles that really helped me and I even found a national survey which was carried out last year to see what ordinary people think about success. I’ve included some of the results in my survey. It’s quite interesting really — have a look.
A: Oh, do you mean this chart?
D: Yes. The people in the survey were asked to rank the things they considered to be the most important indicators of success for them and as you can see it seems that, in general, most people are more concerned with other things than possessions and riches. You can see that by far the most popular factor was a happy family life.
A: 82%. Yes, that is high. What came next?
D: I was quite surprised but health and peace of mind were quite close behind. I hadn’t really considered that to be a factor in personal success.
A: I don’t think it’s that surprising when you think about it. Particularly as you get older, you have more responsibilities and worries about jobs, health and family. Even if you’re successful it’s difficult to appreciate it if you’re in poor health or are constantly stressed or worried about something.
D: Job satisfaction comes quite high — 73%. Well, that’s no surprise — it’s great if you love your job and find it rewarding. I can’t imagine feeling a success if you hate what you do. And after that came, feeling valued. That’s an interesting one.
A: Is that at work?
D: Both work and home, I think.
A: I can understand that it’s always good to feel appreciated for something you’ve done and share your successes. What’s the first thing you do as a child when you get a good mark or achieve something at school?
D: Run home and tell your parents! Yes, I agree, being praised and respected for what you do, whether it’s by family, friends, colleagues or your boss, is always a good feeling. Next on the list has a score of 69%: freedom to choose.
A: What does that mean exactly?
D: I think it’s to do with having freedom to be able to decide what you do with your life, to choose whether to work from home or be self-employed. Whether to work long hours or take a day off work. I suppose the more successful you are, the more freedom you’re likely to have.
A: I can see that owning your own home, car and other possessions does come quite high — 67% — but not as high as I thought it might. I expected it to be in the eighties or nineties! But that means 33% of people don’t consider material wealth to be an important sign of success.
D: I think it’s interesting that even things like achievements outside work were quite close behind — 62% said these were important.
A: Is that things like sports and hobbies?
D: Yes, well, we talked about that, didn’t we? I think doing something like singing in a concert or running in a marathon can give someone a great sense of personal achievement.
A: I’m surprised that the last one doesn’t get a higher score; academic and professional qualifications and achievements. I would have thought that these are important to people but only 58% seem to agree — that’s more than 40% who don’t seem to consider success in education and work important. I wonder why.
D: Maybe they become less important as you get older and not everyone is concerned with academic success. Remember this survey spoke to a cross-section of society — people of all ages and backgrounds.
A: Well, these survey results will have made your essay interesting. Well done for finding them.
D: Thanks.