Success is a funny thing. Some define success as having a lot of money or a high power career. Others define it as how happy a person is within their life. No matter how success is defined, Margaret Mead's view on success applies. "But while we often rejoice in the success of people far removed from ourselves-people who work in another profession, live in another community, or are endowed with a talent that we do not especially want for ourselves-we tend to regard the success of people close at hand, within our own small group, as a threat" (Margaret Mead). Mead traveled the world studying different cultures and would be able to observe this behavior in cultures outside of America. Her statement isn't specific to one culture or another; it …show more content…
As a young elementary school girl I dreamt of being like the high school seniors in my community. I would watch them laugh, have fun with their friends at games and school functions. I dreamt of when it would be my turn. Between then and now I acquired ambitious goals and dreams. These desires and my drive to push and be my best require I put much of my energy into my school work and extracurricular activities. I want to get into a good college and get a quality education, without the major student debts. These goals paired with my aspirations to excel in academics, cheer, and the clubs I'm a part of, has spread me pretty thin over the school year. I never imagined my senior year would look like this. I'm so stressed about all my obligations, and my future I forget to enjoy my last days of high school. If I want to accomplish the things I want; place well at state cheer, graduate with a 4.0, attain scholarships, score well on my AP exams, maintain friends, I just have to do what has to be done. This pressure to be successful, compete with other young adults across the nation and within my school is a direct example of the success Mead describes in her
Success is a concept that is constantly altered and has a different meaning from person to person. The stereotypical definition of success would be someone who has a high-paying job or is in the upper-class. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers: The Story of Success, approaches the concept of success in a different and unique way. Gladwell discusses how opportunities, cultural legacy, and hard work all coincide with each other to produce real success. He uses mostly logic and multiple unrelated anecdotes to support and provide evidence for his statements. Gladwell's main argument is that although hard work and talent are essential for success, one’s given opportunities and cultural legacy is what really
There are many different understandings of what success is. Some relate success to money, others relate success to happiness, but it all depends on the type of person.
The definition of success differs from person to person. According to the “Poolside” Cadillac commercial, success is having a large house, nice family and a new car. How is that success accomplished? According to the mainstream media, success is achieved through hard work and perseverance. Not by taking extravagant vacations, or working for only a few hours a day. Success for others on the other hand could be having a large amount of free time. The media gives examples of what they think success is, but ultimately it’s up to the person to decide what is success is.
When most people (here in the US or anywhere else in the world) hear or talk about the United States, a common theme is living the “America Dream”. The “American Dream” is the idea that children will have a higher standard of living than their parents and in 1940, 92 percent of them did. But by 1980 that number decreased to 50 percent, in terms of absolute mobility. The term “successful” is a universal term and applies different for every single individual because everyone has different levels of success, some are higher then others and there can be some barriers in the way. There are many stories and evidence that have proven this theme but in the fine details there are many other things that come into play when it comes to becoming “successful”.
The meaning of "success" has numerous interpretations, whether it is your own or society's definition. Within Outliers author Malcolm Gladwell explains that being successful has nothing to do with what kind of person you are, so whether you are intelligent and hardworking or lazy and aloof, it depends on your circumstances growing up. Whether your parents happen to be immigrants, you are one of the smartest men in the country or you make a habit of practicing an activity for a certain amount of hours a day, your own personal success, according to Gladwell is defined by the conditions you grew up in; the idea of being successful varies from culture to culture, therefore, there is no definite meaning of success other than one's interpretation.
To be successful has many interpretations, whether it be your own, from the dictionary or societies’ definition. Within Outliers author Malcolm Gladwell explains that being successful has nothing to do with what kind of person you are, so whether you’re intelligent and hardworking or lazy and aloof, it depends on your circumstances growing up. Whether your parents happen to be immigrants, you’re one of the smartest men in the country or you practice like there’s no tomorrow, your own personal success, according to Gladwell is defined by the conditions you grew up in; the idea of being successful varies from culture to culture and because of that there is no definite meaning of successful other than one’s interpretation.
Success comes from self-determination, motivation, and hard work – that was the message I received from reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell helped me understand that the outliers mentioned in the book didn’t gain their success easily. Some may have had lucky opportunities and where born in the right year, but they had to work hard, they were smart, and out of their achievements, they made an impact on society. Prior to reading Outliers, I was lost among the success of others because I thought these people came from wealthy families, which meant they had a head start, but I was wrong. Success has a different meaning to everyone, but the commonalities of success are the advantages and opportunities given to us.
Being successful in life is not always easy, because of different ways that success can be achieved. With many theories out there on success, it is hard to figure out what is needed to be done to gain success. In everyone’s lives there are many different beliefs out there that can lead to it. In the book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell, there are numerous theories that are covered with examples of successful people. They clearly show how success can be done in not just one way but in many others. The most known people that are considered to be successful are billionaires and celebrities. They all have gained success in their lives in their own diverse ways. A good set of successful people in the world today to talk about are Mark Zuckerberg, Whitney Houston, and Nicholas Sparks. These people all come from different backgrounds before gaining their success. Malcolm Gladwell discussed many theories in the book “Outliers” that can relate to the success of the people mentioned above. The true knowledge behind success can be achieved in numerous ways.
More specifically, the circumstances and factors that lead to success. In today’s society, success is seen as something brought unto people wholly and entirely through a singular person’s abilities and effort. That line of thinking is inherently flawed, seeing as “success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities,” (Gladwell 155). Where and when a person is born matters.
Even though most people easily recognize societal success easily, it does little in regards to enhancing the apparently “successful” person’s sense of
Success, whether you achieve it by getting a perfect ACT score, becoming a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, or through a sticker for getting all your spelling words correct, achieving success can be accomplished in any way. The meaning of success to me is when one ambitiously works hard and takes the utmost advantages to a certain extent. This past summer I was given a great opportunity to read a story by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers: The Story of Success in which Gladwell refutes the standard argument that successful people are so simply because they put in a whole lot of hard work and effort. Alternatively, Gladwell offers the thesis that "people don't rise from nothing"; instead, successful people are "beneficiaries of hidden
Clear your mind of everything and imagine what civilization would be like 20 years from now? What is the first thing that popped into your head? There are a million things that run through my mind when I think about the unknown. What if someone gave you a piece of paper and a pencil and asked you to draw what the future would look like? Could you do it? This is exactly the task that Syd Mead was presented to do. He is the creator of the art gallery I visited a few days ago.
Regardless of location, age, sex, or cultural identity, everyone strives for success. Like most people, I associated success with hard work, intelligence, talent, and a striving for greatness that is present in many but perseveres for few. However, Malcom Gladwell’s novel, Outliers: The Story of Success, compared Canadian hockey players, Silicon Valley geniuses, Korean pilots and Asian mathematicians to propose the concept that success does not inherently form from hard work and skill alone, but comes from everything from time of birth to cultural respect; after seeing the results, Gladwell convinced me.
To begin with, success does not necessarily mean having the best home in a city, or owning the car of the year. Everyone’s view of success can be very divergent. It can all depend on where a person stands, or what their past was like. For example, there can be students who might be the first in their families to attend college and getting a college degree can easily turn into their American Dream, it may even be their parents’ dream as well. In addition, the view of Individual opportunity for an undocumented homeless man may differ from the views of an American with a college degree. Owning a home, having
Margaret was a pioneer in special education. Margaret believed that all children have the right to learn and that educators and doctors have the responsibility to find out everything about all different types of children.