Success is putting your mind to an ambition and achieving it, whether it is to be Prime Minister, a good parent, or to score a goal in your Sunday league game. Success is something personal to each individual.

If someone looks at another person, for example a sprint runner, and says, "He/she is successful" then yes by that person's standards they may be. But to the runner, their ambition may be to get a gold medal at the Olympics, and until they have achieved that they are not as successful as they would like. So success is to achieve happiness by fulfilling your goals - therefore relative.

For most people to be happy they need to work in a pleasant friendly environment get on well with colleagues, to be intellectually stimulated, challenged and rewarded.

You should not accept a job with a company if you think that it cannot offer you these things.

For your part, you have to have the right stuff, in terms of both skills and personality. These will help you find a job in the first place and will set you in good stead throughout your career regardless of the industry sector.

Impressing the boss then steal his job while he is on holiday in the Bahamas

Most people see their career as a ladder of progression, with each step you take on more responsibility and pay. To secure promotion you have to impress your employers, the suits on high, the big wigs, and the fat cats.

To impress you have to fulfill everything that is expected of you and more. You should be competent, achieving the tasks your job entails in good time and to a high standard. You should pace yourself, schedule realistically, and be able to manage your own time.

Organization is the name of the game, it is a very important skill to master if you are to reach the top. You must also be results oriented and be completely dependable and trustworthy.

A good employee should be flexible enough to carry out tasks outside of their job description. The most positive way of making yourself invaluable to the company by either being a jack of all trades, or being an expert at something that no one else knows about.

To get this far, i.e. into employment you probably already possess a fair amount of confidence. But If you are to succeed in your ambitions you need to sell yourself and your talents, you need to put yourself forward and stand out from the pack without coming across as being conceited or arrogant.

Patience is a virtue, blah blah blah, "yeah but I wanna be boss NOW!" - tough, sometimes on the way to the top you are going to have to bide your time before you make further progress. In most companies there are one hundred and one deals and strategies going on in the pipeline, everyone is busy and the only way you are going to get ahead is by making an impact on proceedings through your actions, but this can take time.

It is important to stay abreast of the latest developments and technologies within your sector. If you are aware of market sentiment and you are in a position to do so, you can act upon what you have learnt to achieve results. Alternatively, if you have your ear to the ground you can pass information to people who can act upon it and you will gain recognition in this way.

You also have to be aware of what is going on within your company. No, not gossip like who is secretly the father of the receptionist's love child; you need to know what the company's development strategies are, what is its ten year plan for expansion? If you are hoping to advance your career you have to show that you have the qualities that are needed to succeed in a more responsible, possibly managerial position. This means delegation, negotiation, leadership skills and decision-making - do not hesitate at the drinks machine!

Making allies in the workplace
It pays to have friends at your place of work, not only can they make tea for you, but if you get on well with your colleagues then the office will have a more pleasant atmosphere and you will not dread coming into work every morning.

We spend a hell of a lot of time with our work colleagues, if you work 9-5, 5 days of the week then in the course of a lifetime you probably spend a lot more time with them than you do your loved one. So take the time to be friendly, it helps if you are a positive, outgoing, cheerful, and a likable person. Having a reputation as the office social outcast will get you nowhere.

To, make it to the top you have to be good with people. Your fellow colleagues will also have promotional aspirations, they could be useful contacts in years to come.

Look out for number one
Do not be single-mindedly ambitious, the best employees are team players. However it does no harm to have a goal and to go out of your way to achieve it. Ambition is a healthy quality and one that is picked up upon from the interview onwards, you have to be proactive in making your goals come true.

We all need self-belief, without it we wouldn't get out of bed in the morning. You need to believe that you are capable of being successful, and achieving your ambitions. When you believe it you can set about convincing other people of what you are capable of.

Everyone has the potential to succeed you just need a target to aim for. Making a rough career plan will help you achieve this, ask yourself where you want to be in five or ten years time. Define your ambition and then to go out and make it happen.