What It Takes To Be Great Essay

Some people believe that humans do not control their own destiny, and success is due to natural causes. Others believe that humans do control their own destiny, and success is due to hard work. The Sports Gene, written by Daniel Epstein, is about a young man named Donald Thomas who discovered his natural talent for high jumping through a friendly bet. Outliers: The Story of Success, written by Malcolm Gladwell, explains that hard work is more important than natural talent. Through thorough explanation, Gladwell produces a more convincing argument supporting hard work over natural talent for controlling what happens in our lives.

      The main focus of Breen's essay the focus is on the fact that colonists in Virginia were driven and motivated to come to the New World, predominantly for monetary reasons. Virginia's soil was found to be unusually well suited for growing tobacco, which is why it drove such a variety of people to migrate there. The colonists, though said to be religious, were extremely individualistic, selfish, as well as primarily drawn in by the economic opportunity in

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.

In chapter 2, The 10,000-Hour Rule, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcom Gladwell (2008), Gladwell sets out to convince us our parents were right, practice does make perfect; I disagree. I always wanted to be a singer, I had the desire, the drive, opportunity and talent? Friends and family heartily disagreed. Try as I might I never became a Rock Star. Practicing for another 10 years wound not have helped achieve my goal, I cannot carry a tune. Now how about at successful singers, Stevie Wonder, Tanya Tucker, Michael Jackson and Taylor Swift. All successful prior to the age of 20. Gladwell argues natural talent or innate ability have less to do with success than opportunity and practice. In Rulebook for Arguments 4th Ed. pg.15-16, Anthony

In Rose’s “I Just Wanna Be Average”, readers can determine from what he says that teachers play an integral role in the educations of students. When others are teaching you what to do, it becomes easier to understand; when others are not teaching you, it becomes harder to understand. You can tell how essential a teacher is to a student if you were to read Rose’s narrative and see that: students float to expectations, if teachers don’t expect anything of you they won’t help you, and how beneficial it is to have a teacher who challenges you to be better.

A typical high-school student struggles in learning new concepts, in AP Language & Composition many students learn new challenging concepts which make the class difficult.

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.

For example, Gladwell states that there is a thing called innate talent. "Not every hockey player born in January ends up playing at the professional level. Only some do- the innately talented ones. Achievement is talent plus preparation" (Gladwell 2). Later, Gladwell describes that " the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play"(Gladwell 2). Gladwell goes on to relate to three different groups of school violinists. The first group of students were the ones with the potential to be a world-class violinist. The second group was the group that were pretty good. The third group of students were the ones that were considered unlikely to ever play professionally (Gladwell 2). Gladwell states in the next sentence "… how many hours have you practiced?" (Gladwell 2). All the students started playing at about the same time. The first couple of years, they practiced the same amount of hours. When the students got older, the students that were the best started to practice more than the others. Gladwell states that " … six hours a week by age nine, eight hours a week by age twelve, sixteen hours a week by age fourteen, and up and up, until by the age of twenty..." (Gladwell 2). Gladwell informs readers that each elite player practiced a total of ten thousand

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

The article “What it takes to be great,” by Geoffrey Colvin is very well written. Geoffrey Colvin makes valid points to support his opinion on what it takes to be great. I agree with Colvin’s idea that to be great at something it requires hard work. He expands on this by saying it takes “deliberate practice.” What Colvin meant by “deliberate practice,” was that is performing not just to get something done, but to be efficient and push oneself to accomplish more. An example could be playing basketball. If a person shoots one hundred foul shots a day does not mean he or she is deliberately practicing. The best way to get better would be to make sure you made

In the short story, 10,000 Hours, by Malcolm Gladwell, he starts his writing with the question of “Is there such thing as innate talent?” Meaning there obviously is such a thing as being born with some sort of talent in some field but that doesn’t mean someone can’t practice and work harder than those of such great talent. Gladwell presents a study in this story to show the possibilities of average or below people than those that were meant for the broadway lights right from the gate. The author’s purpose of this short writing is to show his audience that everyone has potential to be the best not by just natural talent, but hard work.

The Great The Corruptness of the American Dream The nineteen twenties was a decade of renaissance characterized by the American Dream- the widespread aspiration of Americans to live better than their parents. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, contains themes that continue to be relevant today. In his novel, Fitzgerald reprehends the American dream by describing its characteristics: the pseudo-relationship between money and happiness, the superficiality of the rich, and the class strife between the rich and the poor. “The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (Mailer 97).

A common theme in Gladwell’s book is hard work. None of the truly successful people got to where they are without lots of hard work. To become a professional athlete or anything really it takes ten thousand hours of practice. That is just the minimum. No one is naturally talented in the sense that they can not put in the hard work and come out on top. Gladwell mentions that in one of the studies of a school’s population of violinists, they “couldn’t find and “naturals,” musicians who floated effortlessly to to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did” (39). They also did not find anyone who worked harder than everyone else but did not make it to the top. “Even Mozart -- the greatest musical prodigy of all time -- couldn’t hit his stride until he had his ten thousand hours in” (42). Mozart, a child prodigy, could not write his famous pieces until he had practiced enough, and worked hard. Even a prodigy had

     Henry David Thoreau once said, “In the long run, men hit only that they aim at, therefore they had better aim at something high.” I agree with Thoreau completely. When you have goals in life, you’re going to do anything and everything to accomplish those goals. Therefore why not set higher goals that you will endeavor just with diminutive amount of more effort? One semester of English has gone by and there's another semester to go. Even though I have done fairly well in English the first semester, I would like to do even better the second semester. I can only do better if I have a plan and this plan is the different types of goals I am going to set for myself. You can’t be a good student by just doing well in

To become a success in life, we all need to learn to become a good student in every aspect of life. Becoming a good student takes much work and self-discipline. There are many ways that a student can stand out from the rest of the class. These good students are distinguished by their attitude, intellectual skills, consciousness, and achievement.