The Achievement Habit Book By Bernard Roth Essay

Meaning in one way or another colors every mental state, because it is the foundation of every conscious level. We don’t always focus specifically on the sense of import in every experience, but it is precisely this sense of meaning, whether conscious or unconscious, that turns each and every experience into a conscious experience in the first place. Thus, no conscious experience is a completely meaningless experience, because without some level of meaning the event cannot be experienced as “conscious” at all. Numerous metaphors can be used, the fact that meaning may be thought of as the seed from which each and every conscious experience grows, or meaning is the spark that ignites the flame of consciousness. It is these metaphors that fulfill the theory that life without purpose is not life at all.

This will to meaning is the culmination of our developmental process. To cultivate an individual’s capacity to find meaning in their life is the greatest goal, and the source of mankind’s anxiety and neuroses. We all wish to find the meaning within our life, and are unfulfilled when we miss the mark. But according to Frankl, there is always meaning in life, in every single moment, from one to the next we all are capable of making a choice about ourselves, and beyond that, have a responsibility to do so. Even with the transitory nature of our existence and hopelessness in the face of certain death, there is still meaning to be found, there is still freedom to be earned.

In The Meaning of Life, Richard Taylor argues that meaningless lives our lives that consist of a repetitive cycle of struggles that do not give us any purpose. Taylor describes a meaningful life as one that has a purpose, and is creative and unique to that specific person. Also, the meaningful life is lived in a good and just manner. In The Meanings of Lives, Susan Wolf argues lives that are not involved in an activity that brings positive value are meaningless lives. A person that has a meaningless life by the standards of Taylor can still have a life that is going well for them. Their well-being is not dependent on whether they have a meaningful life or not. Wolf believes that meaningfulness is an important factor in a person’s well-being. Well-being is present when a person’s is living a life that is going positive according to themselves. A person who lives a life that is meaningless as a result of being repetitive and pointless can still have a life that is going well for them.

"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive...." Joseph Campbell made this comment on the search for meaning common to every man's life. His statement implies that what we seem bent on finding is that higher spark for which we would all be willing to live or die; we look for some key equation through which we might tie all of the experiences of our life and feel the satisfaction of action toward a goal, rather than the emptiness which sometimes consumes the activities of our existence. He states, however, that we will never find some great

In the book, The Achievement Habit, by Bernard Roth, chapter two reasons are bullshit, he gives multiple examples on ethos, logos, and pathos. Logos which is the logical appeal, ethos are the ethical appeal, and pathos which is the emotional appeal to the reader. In chapter two, reasons are bullshit the author talks about the reasons people give are pointless. He also states that people should stop giving excuses. That any kind of excuse, besides being sick or a death in the family, should not be accepted. This book by Bernard Roth is intended for the audience of college students. I believe that chapter two is a very important chapter for college students. Most college students use excuses for a lot of things, even things that they don’t need

The concept of meaninglessness is something that is just unfathomable to me. Everything has some sort of meaning, and some sort of purpose. Otherwise, fate wouldn’t have pushed people to do or make certain things. On the other hand, Some philosophers have taken determinism, the doctrine that all events are ultimately determined by causes external to the will, to show that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally

In Richard Taylor’s chapter “Meaning of Life”, he concluded that objectively, life is meaningless. He stressed his opinion by arguing that life tends to be a cycle of goals that cumulate to nothing. These goals require sequences of exhausting work and attempt that will continue throughout the rest of life but will have no meaning. As one goal is reached, the next is sought out for, forgetting the one that was just achieved. I do not support Taylor on his objective meaningless of life. Life has a meaning, even if it is just being alive, we were created by God and he has a plan for us. Goals help us become better people and they are important to us. Taylor explained that we can find meaning in our lives when a will is put behind our actions. This means that meaningfulness can be found within the veins of anyone. I agree with Taylor, that our actions should be of interest to us, yet his account fails to show that they will make our lives have a meaning. There is no validation, that a change of the state of mind will cause our lives to achieve meaning.

While watching “The Puzzle of Motivation” by Dan Pink, I was very intrigued. Throughout the entire talk, there were several interesting points that were made. It really interested me when Pink talked about the group that was rewarded. Pink stated that if the contestants were in the top 25% of the fastest times, they would be rewarded five dollars. With this incentive, most would hope to do well, if not better than the person that would not be rewarded. Pink then goes on to point out the results. How much faster did the group that was offered a reward actually do? On average, it took them three and a half minutes longer. This really stood out to me because when offered a reward for a task, normally a person would be more motivated and thus do better. What amazed me even more was that this isn’t just a one time thing. This is has been replicated over and over for nearly 40 years. As Pink says around 04:33, “These contingent motivators -- if you do this, then you get that -- work in some circumstances. But for a lot of tasks, they actually either don 't work or, often, they do harm.” These rewards that are being offered are being used to attempt to sharpen thinking and accelerate creativity, but instead it’s proving to do the opposite. It’s proving to dull thinking and block creativity.

The diverse ways writers answer this question stems from their worldview. For the atheist Samuel Beckett, there was no meaning to life. He narrated a story of two babbling idiots who he believed were foolish to wait around for Godot. His pointless view of life manifests in the way he creates his characters: they are characters who do not go and do anything.

Douglas Adams: Absurd in Every Way What is the meaning of life? This age-old question has never yielded a satisfactory answer, even though the human race has existed for millions of years. In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, every character attempts to answer this question in a different way. Adams argues meaning should be found through individual journey and reflection.

Why do so many people fear death, fight for their country, defend their honor, seek love, stand up for their principles, go on living in the face of adversity, or believe in God? Each of these things involves living beyond the immediate moment, and all of them have at least one thing in common, and that is a sense of meaning. These are examples of big meaning, but in fact every conscious event has significance, no matter how small, fleeting, or trivial the event might be.

In the book What’s It All About? Julian Baggini discusses philosophy and the meaning of life. This reading was able to bring different perspectives on ideas of the meaning of life that I thought about before. I was also able to learn about these concerns about life 's meaning or meaninglessness in a philosophical standpoint. Some of the chapters that I found interesting included the chapters titled looking for the blueprint, here to help, and becoming a contender.

Even I have been guilty of this idea of what the meaning of my existence is supposed to

In the book, The Achievement Habit, written by Bernard Roth, there are many key elements to the thesis of reasons are bullshit. Roth makes claims on why making excuses should never be a trait someone should have. He explains himself by relating to students in stories and in past examples of his own life. In Roth’s eyes, someone makes an excuse for not doing something only because they didn’t value that task enough to accomplish it with one-hundred percent effort. Roth convinces his audience through the use of his credibility, value and reason that he has mastered to get his point across to his students.

Life is actually mesmerizing adventure and actually have no general meaning. Each and every person has their own meaning of life and it is oneself who renders the meaning of one’s life. Life is an opinion. It’s an idea. It begins with the birth of an individual. One day that body will die, but that opinion or idea brought by that individual is immortal. It persists in this world for many years.