Chasing Success Personal Essay
Success is the key attribute that everyone admires to achieve in life. However, success will not come in the silver plate if an individual does not possess right attributes that facilitate prosperity. Success is a subject of motivation, goal orientation as well as luck as showcased by Marita on her journey to success. Motivation and goal orientation encouraged Marita to go against all the odds to achieve her life ambitions. As illustrated by Collin Blair in the video “Rise and Swim” success is a tedious process that calls for endurance. In the video, the publisher acknowledges that in the pursuit of success there is always the easy way that is likely to shutter individual success efforts. In this essay, I prefer motivation, goal-orientation, and luck as the major aspects that influence an individual success. My position is well replicated through successful people such as Marita and Kevin Durant who were guided by motivation, goal-orientation and luck to attain success in their lives despite the challenges.
Motivation help individuals to acquire the right perspective that will push and maintain them at the state of success. For example, Marita’s success was built on motivation. Marita was so motivated to achieve the success that she was ready to abandon her social life and focus on KIPP. “Give up her evenings and weekends and friends – all the elements of her old world – and replace them with KIPP” (Gladwell 13). Marita’s case depicts that motivation drives people to achieve their set targets irrespective of the pains and challenges that they may come across. A motivated person will do extraordinary things that amaze people around him or her as portrayed by Hurston on his narration of Janie’s success. “You don’t know half as much ‘bout us as you think you do” (Hurston 75). Despite the negative opinions and comments, Janie was not deterred from being motivated to achieve what she wanted and to remain firm in her beliefs. A motivated person knows no challenges provided he or she will achieve success at the end of the day.
Goal-orientation is a recipe for success. The goal-oriented trait is well illustrated by kids as outlined Gladwell. “Our kids are spending fifty to sixty percent more time learning than the traditional public school children” (Gladwell 13). This quote evidences that kids are more concerned with their goals to the point they can spend extra time in school. Blair in the video “Rise and Swim” illustrates how a goal-oriented individual overcomes all challenges. “Welcome to the grind” (Rise and Swim). In the video, Blair explains that big goals demand a lot of grinding to achieve individual target goals. Goal-orientation helps an individual to put right mechanisms in place to overcome the potential challenges.
Luck is also an ingredient of success. Gladwell uses the story of Marita to show how luck can lead to success. “Marita just needed a chance” (Gladwell 14). Gladwell portrays Marita as a person who capitalized on luck in the event she had a chance to do so. In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Hurston showcases how luck can be relied upon as a constituent of success. “They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching god” (Hurston 160). The Hurston’s quote illustrates how people stuck in the hurricane were lucky enough to be alive and even being able to make money together. When challenges outweigh the individual efforts to achieve success, hoping for luck becomes an alternative.
Kevin Durant is a famous current famous person who has thrived on motivation, goal orientation and luck. Durant has been a famous NBA player. Currently, he is a top-scorer in the American professional basketball. He is also top scorer and a star three times. Durant says that he is motivated by Barbara. “Barbara was a strong influence, telling him that his height was a blessing, even though schoolmates teased him for always being the tallest in class” (Durant). Barbara did not give up on doing things he loved despite demotivating sentiments from his classmates. Kevin Durant had basketball as his target goal. “He was named to Parade magazine’s “First Team” list and USA Today’s “First team all-American” list, capturing attention from major college basketball recruiters nationwide.” (Kevin Durant). Durant had set basketball success a goal to achieve in his whole life, but now it is the basketball that is chasing him. Durant success was also as a result of luck. “As a Longhorn, Durant started in every game during his freshman year of college” (Durant). Durant was lucky to have a chance to start every single game despite that he was a freshman. Motivation, goal orientation and luck are key factors behind the individual success irrespective of obstacles that one may face in chasing prosperity.In the pursuit of success, an individual can be influenced by motivation, goals and luck. The three aspects lead to individual success either when combined or as a single factor. For example, Kevin Durant success has been as a result of the three traits combined. On the other hand, a single trait can aid an individual to attain success. For example, Marita, kids in schools, hurricane survivors and a swimmer as explained by different authors were able to achieve success based on a single trait. However, the combination of the three traits appears more effective in pursuance of success than a single trait as illustrated by Kevin Durant.