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Pyramid Of Success Analysis

Decent Essays

A survey done by Dora Mekouar shows that 75 percent of Americans believe they are successful, but what is success? Is it achieving all one's’ life goals, (which only half say they have) or is it being rich, which only 34 percent of Americans believe is important (Mekouar). Kristen Lamb, the CEO of WANA International, say, “ It is estimated that over ¾ of Americans say that they would one day like to write a book...How many dare to take that next step? Statistically? 5%” (Kristen Lamb). From this she makes an argument on how only 5 percent of Americans are successful, from a writer's viewpoint. Two successful people that are in that 5% that the majority of modern America can agree on is Will Smith, a rapper, singer, and actor. The other is …show more content…

Starting with John Wooden, who went to Indiana State University and Purdue University and ended up being a UCLA coach for men's basketball, wrote a book named Pyramid of Success. In his article he says, “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the Best you are capable of becoming” (Wooden 83). Even though it is his own interpretation of success, it can still backfire on one. Say the best someone was to become was a high class criminal and then they get sentenced to 50 years to life. Almost everyone would disagree with that being successful, even though that someone was doing their best they could be. Another example of indirect success is Gladwell's, Outliers. In his book he says, “Success is completely arbitrary...It makes a difference where and when we grew up....It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn’t” (Gladwell, 20). Gladwell's believe success is based on where and when one is born and that that factor can decide what they are going to be in life. This contradicts almost all views on success where one believes that they have to work hard, practice a lot and dedicate more time to what they would want to be successful. Yet as stated above success may vary and Wooden and Gladwell are two fine …show more content…

Examples of these were how Will Smith, who started as a young rapper making hits at the age of 18, then moving up into the movie and filming industry creating Big time movies like Men in Black. He did all of this with Determination, and to prove to himself he could do it. Another was John Wooden, the writer of Pyramid of success and how he believes it is all about skill. At the top of his pyramid is success and right under it is competitive greatness. A few others are Phil Knight and how he worked for his success, and never gave up. And a final one is Malcolm Gladwell, the writer of Outliers, who believes success is completely arbitrary and based on luck. Gladwell proves this with a few sports players’ birthdays and how if you are born in certain few months you will be a good at a certain sport. Recently, while I was doing this paper I ironically ended up watching a Will Smith movie, named The Pursuit of Happyness, a touching father-son film where the father is on the deep side of poverty and he works hard to be successful. The movie reminded me that success is nowhere near easy, and when one is not successful, it is not always their fault, which was shown a lot throughout the movie. All these fine examples show that success varies from person to person, and the

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