In a pregame speech, Lou Holtz once said to the New York Jets, “Ability is what you're capable of doing, motivation determines what you do, and attitude determines how well you do it” (Holtz). Have you ever compared yourself to Olympic athletes? Have you wished you could be as successful as certain wealthy celebrities? Fortunately, every individual that is upon this earth has the same ability to accomplish equal levels of success. Those who achieve higher levels of progress do not do so from possessing certain natural abilities, instead are an outcome of a greater dedication to hard work and dedication. In Lou Holtz’s quote, he articulates the same idea that everyone has the equal ability to strive, and that it is the motivation and attitude that vary the result. Therefore, I proudly say that I strongly believe that success is an internal objective that can be achieved through the diligence of an individual, rather than one’s natural ability. Research has shown that most famous celebrities achieve their success through relentless devotion of their lives to their careers. Will Smith is a famous actor, rapper, and comedian who lives a very fortunate and beneficial lifestyle. A few years ago, Will did an interview with the television program, 60 Minutes. In the interview, Will discussed how his road to “hitting it big” was not at all simple and easy. He explains the nerves and hard-work that went into filming his first show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He gives the example
Every elite athlete makes it look easy. Splashing through the water or striding gracefully down the track making it look effortless. Some people assume they are “naturals,” that their perfect DNA sequence is what has brought them to this level. Others argue that hard work and drive is what has made the difference, separating the elite from the average. These thoughts are the ones that give rise to the age-old nature vs. nurture debate. Countless hours of studies and research has concluded: it’s both. High performance sports consultant Ross Tucker puts it this way, “The science of success is about the coming together of dozens, perhaps hundreds of factors” (1). The relationship of such factors, including genetics, types and lengths of
Some people are born with natural god given skills and ability while others who are not that lucky and have to work twice as hard just to get the same result. And then there are those rare individual who even though they are born with the talent, they still work just as hard and sometimes even harder to keep improving. It is called determination and that is a trait that all the great athletes share and it is what separates the great ones from the just good ones. This is perfect way to describe Peyton Williams Manning, who is considered to be one of the most prolific passers in NFL history.
Almost everyone has dreams of becoming someone whether that's being a lawyer, doctor, or even a engineer. Accomplishment, determination, and success are the three main words that give us the ability and strength to achieve everything that we hope we can wish for. There is not a day when people think that failure may happen because that is what frightens us the most. To be honest all that stress is worth it because it leads to a brighter future for myself. I know that as long as I put in all the effort into my work, I will be able to succeed.
Success can mean different things to different people. The definition of success can change for a person at different stages of their life. A person's culture, family, friends, experiences, and environment can be a big influence on defining what success is to that individual. We all hear the stories of people failing and failing until one day they make it to the top, beat the bad guy or pass the trial. The story can also go that they got all they desired or raised up from the ashes. All of these have one thing in common, it is at the end of the story. It's never the beginning or middle. It's always at the end of the story that the person succeeds in their quest. But why does it have to be at the end? Simply, like how there is no good without evil. You can not have succeed without struggling and failing first.
As Roy Bennett once said, “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world”. In past civilizations, a commonality amongst leaders is that they would use force and fear to secure their power over people. The reason being is to avoid future riots and the possibility of losing their territory to the people they conquered or their very own. However, there were moments in history where rulers exerted their dominance without having to ruin the lives of innocent people. When rulers clear themselves from selfish desires they become someone who their people look up to no matter what background, and that is what it means to be a true leader.
Geoff Colvin, the author of What It Takes to Be Great, once stated “Greatness isn’t handed to anyone; it requires a lot of hard work.” This statement is undeniable because it is proven multiple times in the story, “The Smallest Dragonboy” by Anne McCaffrey, the Duracell advertisement with Derrick Coleman, and the article, “What It Takes to Be Great,” by Colvin himself. Deliberate practice will greatly improve their adroitness on one’s field of profession and perseverance will play a great role on achieving one’s goals. Talent is insignificant compared to determination and meticulous practice. Colvin’s claim on how success is only achieved with perseverance and certitude is indubitable.
The Sports Gene, written by David Epstein, supports the argument that natural ability controls our lives. Malcolm Butler, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, argues that preparation and work ethic are more important than innate talent. With great examples and reasoning, Butler builds a more convincing argument by presenting evidence and reasoning from the text, making Butlers position better for answering the question How much of what happens in our lives do we control?
Success is a very sought after aspect in our society. Everyone strives for the nicest car, the largest home, or the most exciting job. However, Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, discusses how the path to success is not simple and it has a lot of factors that play into it. Being on a sports team throughout school or being a “student-athlete” may be one of them. Student athletes learn concepts like teamwork, hard work, and persistence—all of which are critical parts of the average adult career. The sports that these children and teens participate in fuel their competitive drive that can only help them in the workplace.
Cut is a nonfiction by Bob Green that tells five stories of how he and four other people were cut from their sports teams. Being cut can have effects that last a lifetime such as being motivated to improve yourself from your moment of failure. This paper will explain the effects getting cut had on three different people. People who face failure develop a desire for success. Malcolm MacPherson “drove [his] opinion of [himself] right into a tunnel” when he was cut from his high school baseball team after the first game.
In Beyond Grit, Cindra Kamphoff reveals the ten practices that the world’s best use to gain the high performance edge. Kamphoff shares the tools and strategies she’s taught executives, entrepreneurs, NFL ProBowl athletes, Olympians, college athletes, and championship teams. Based on almost twenty years of research and consulting with the world’s best, she provides a practical, inspiring, and easy-to-use guide to radically accelerating your performance and improving your happiness.
The main focus of Geoff Colvin’s, “What It Takes to Be Great”, published October 30, 2006, by Fortune, is on the importance that talent is to success. Researches were curious on,”how people were able to go on improving”, or how much is talent needed for success. They studied the best of the best in a variety of fields, such as: Michael Jordan, Winston Churchill, Vladimir Horowitz, Tiger Woods, and many more. Most people believe that talent makes someone great, but Colvin concludes, that people aren’t great through talent, but through deliberate practice. Deliberate practice involves a healthy mindset, consistency, obsessive practice, and discipline. Colvin shares,”The critical reality is that we are not hostage to some naturally given level
“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.“ John Robert Wooden is considered the greatest teacher, coach of all time and believed character was the ideal key to success. Wooden taught his players to work and achieve at their best ability. The Pyramid of Success was invented by Wooden that consisted of fifteen qualities that guided his players and others to achieve what they desired. To be able to reach full potential, Wooden’s players had to follow his coaching. As a result of Wooden building character in his men, they listened and followed the rules which allowed them to focus on their necessity.
Robert C. Meredith website “True Success: What is it” as the name suggests is a website that takes a deeper look into defining success. Similar to theme of Outliers the author not only question success but investigates it. Meredith feels that it is achieved though goals help from family, one’s career and even one’s health. I think this would be appealing to students but also an effective tool to help adolescents understand that there is no distinct way to achieve success. Similar to Gladwell he also compares others lifestyle to help prove the point that success can be achieved in various ways. From visiting the website I would want adolescents to have a deeper understanding of what is success to them means and understand everyone definition
When people talked about the leaders of some famous companies, they firmly believed that these leaders leadership talent is born. In the book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”, Carol S. Dweck discussed the fix mindset and growth mindset how to affect themes such as sports, business, relationships, and parents. Leaders with fixed mindset feel that they are superman or a genius, consider that employee who has more ability be more useful than the person who work hard and want to grow. Also, they also believe their company will not be defeated and replace. On the other side, leaders with a growth mindset preferred many people can become an excellent leader by hard-working and learn how to select people: for their mindset, not their pedigrees. Although both mindsets can make a leader successful, the growth mindset person gained more success in business, since they have true self-confidence and think they are not excellent but try their best to learn, credit and nurture. They also know how to use feedback to strengthen their leadership and arrange the company 's employees appropriately. In the teamwork, they will work to solve the problem with staff quickly. They notice their improvement in their employees on the management side and also believe themselves can be educated in negotiation abilities.
“Happy lives are usually made up of a combination of positive emotions and meaningfulness.” (Zakrzewski & Brunn, 2015). Research shows that achieving the highest levels of success does not make for ‘happier’ individuals. This can be true for both career and education. In order to reach a happy state, it does not only depend on reaching full academic potential. There needs to be a balance of intellectual and emotional health in students, in order to be content. The same can be said of career success. People who achieve great careers with great wages have not been proven to be more satisfied in life. There is the advantage of upward mobility, which can bring satisfaction. Although not enough to the point where they are happier than those who do not have that level of career. In addition, the opportunities of moving up in the social ladder are slim, if higher education is out of reach for those who cannot afford it. So, society pushes for education to benefit the economy and a content society. What it fails to do, is pay attention to the other part of us that plays a role in this as well, our personal and emotional happiness. In America, everyone is always searching for the eternal pursuit of happiness. It has been discovered that finding ‘happiness’ does not come solely from excelling in education. Nor are people ‘happier’ due to pursuing and thriving in highly successful careers. This factors into the ambition of obtaining happiness from upward mobility. Something that is not