Winston Churchill once said, “success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” This is such a true statement. There are many roads that can lead you to success. Even if you fail once, twice, even three times, there will always be an alternative to reaching your goal. Through three people, different ideas of success are conveyed. Malcolm Gladwell, author of the Outliers and Blink.. Paul Tough, an editor of The New York Times and author of How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character.. Alicia Paul Thomas, wife and mother of two, as well as a full time employee at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Because these sources are different, their ideas of success are different. Success
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He expresses this idea through the stories of two schools, the Riverdale Country School, located in the richest part in the Bronx, and the KIPP school, located in the southern Bronx. Though these schools were very different in regards to their socio-economic backgrounds both believed that what their student lacked was character. “To help chronically low-performing but intelligent students, educators and parents must first recognize that character is at least as important as intellect” (Tough). In this quote, Tough is able to convey the importance of character in a person’s road to success. When a person has certain character qualities, they can have more of an advantage to becoming successful. For example, if someone has grit and determination, they are able to work through their failures and still come out on top at the end. People need to be able to still get through failure because it is bound to happen. Dominic Randolph, headmaster of the Riverdale Country School, recognized that. If people gets things easily they wouldn’t be able to handle failure. Randolph said in regards to that, “‘I think they’re screwed to be honest. I don’t think they’ve grown the capacities to be able to handle that’” (Tough). People need those qualities like grit, perseverance, and …show more content…
The idea of adaptability being a key element to success is especially true in her case. She did always see herself where she is now, she had to adapt and find another way to be successful. “I believe that I would be a professor and teaching at a small College or University. When I first had kids, I believed that I would be a stay at home mom” (Thomas). Though her plans didn’t go the way she had expected, she still has a fulfilling career in which she is passionate about. How she ended up have a different journey, goes along with Gladwell’s idea that there is no universal way to success. Mrs. Thomas believed that at first she would have her career then have kids and stay home, that was her idea of a fulfilling life goal. That didn’t happen, when she had her kids she continued to work full time and is now taking classes to get her PhD. What she is doing now has become the future she is satisfied. Through her struggles she has figured out what success is for her. One of her greatest struggles is trying to get her PhD while still working full time and being a wife and mother. She says “don’t get stuck if things don’t go as plan. Adapt and learn from your mistakes and/or roadblocks” (Thomas). Like Tough, Thomas believes that mistakes are just as important to becoming successful as the successes. If you learn from
He expresses this idea through the stories of two schools, the Riverdale Country School, located in the richest part in the Bronx, and the KIPP school, located in the southern Bronx. Though these schools were very different in regards to their socio-economic backgrounds both believed that what their student lacked was character. “To help chronically low-performing but intelligent students, educators and parents must first recognize that character is at least as important as intellect” (Tough). In this quote, Tough is able to convey the importance of character in a person’s road to success. When a person has certain character qualities, they can have more of an advantage to becoming successful. For example, if someone has grit and determination, they are able to work through their failures and still come out on top at the end. People need to be able to still get through failure because it is bound to happen. Dominic Randolph, headmaster of the Riverdale Country School, recognized that. If people gets things easily they wouldn’t be able to handle failure. Randolph said in regards to that, “‘I think they’re screwed to be honest. I don’t think they’ve grown the capacities to be able to handle that’” (Tough). People need those qualities like grit, perseverance, and …show more content…
The idea of adaptability being a key element to success is especially true in her case. She did always see herself where she is now, she had to adapt and find another way to be successful. “I believe that I would be a professor and teaching at a small College or University. When I first had kids, I believed that I would be a stay at home mom” (Thomas). Though her plans didn’t go the way she had expected, she still has a fulfilling career in which she is passionate about. How she ended up have a different journey, goes along with Gladwell’s idea that there is no universal way to success. Mrs. Thomas believed that at first she would have her career then have kids and stay home, that was her idea of a fulfilling life goal. That didn’t happen, when she had her kids she continued to work full time and is now taking classes to get her PhD. What she is doing now has become the future she is satisfied. Through her struggles she has figured out what success is for her. One of her greatest struggles is trying to get her PhD while still working full time and being a wife and mother. She says “don’t get stuck if things don’t go as plan. Adapt and learn from your mistakes and/or roadblocks” (Thomas). Like Tough, Thomas believes that mistakes are just as important to becoming successful as the successes. If you learn from