What do you think makes an individual successful or unsuccessful?

Attentive to everyone and everything, flexible to all situations, perceptive to your environment. Knowledge is power and that is not just words to be repeated.
Oblivious to surroundings, inflexible in any situation, unwillingness to learn from mistakes.
The less you know does NOT mean the better off you are, ignorance is NOT bliss.

Successful:. Unsuccessful:
Discipline. Laziness
Motivation. Bad work habits
Determination. Sense of entitlement

I have an issue with the tv point. I work from home. I also have tinnitus that goes from a dull roar to a thought-stopping piercing squeal. I have to keep a tv/radio going during work hours to tune out the noise both in my head and outside my windows (landscapers at the moment). I can't wear my noise-cancelling ones with my readers without resultant behind-the-ear pain. Earbuds will not stay in my ears and I cannot wear the hook style as well. TV acts as noise filter/buffer for the incessant noise in my head and random outside ones as well. I am 99.9% sure that the OP meant passively/mindlessly watching TV, but I use it as a refuge to decompress from reading medical charts all day. Success, like normalcy, is relative/subjective. I am not trying to keep up with the Jones family as we are them on our block. We both worked and educated our butts off to enjoy our life now. Stepping off soapbox and slinking away...