Philosophy of Success_ Essay Josh Bryant
4/28/06
English 109
What is success? Is it just a word used in reference with a reward, or recommendation for an honor given to a person? Well I believe that success means a lot more than temporary honor. The definition of success in Webster’s Dictionary is a degree or measure of succeeding, or a favorable or desirable outcome, the attainment of wealth, favor or eminence. My definition of success is the measure of succeeding all life’s dreams, and goals through positive thinking and motivation. I also relate success to writer and college professor Skip Downing’s perspective on success which includes accepting personal responsibility, discovering self-motivation, mastering self-management, employing interdependence, gaining self awareness, adopting lifelong learning, developing emotional intelligence, and believing in yourself .
An example of a person who lived a successful life, and still lives a successful life, is my father. My father graduated from high school and college and successfully earned a degree in sports/teaching. My father explained to me in detail that in order for him to achieve success in life it took him a lot of dedication, sacrifice, and hard work in order for his high school and college career to be a success. He also explained to me that it did not happen overnight, but his success only was achieved through his constant determination, and most of all, his hard work in school. My father’s success paid off in high school, because he obtained a full-scholarship in his field. My father also stressed the importance of not giving up no matter what happened in his school career. As of today my father still encourages me to pursue and accomplish more than he did in his lifetime in order to bring about success in my life, but the decision is still up to me.
Success is also applied in my life as well as my father’s, who is my most positive example of a successful person. One thing in my life I have applied is my dreams of my future in the successful life I have always dreamed of living in about 2-5 years from now. In the future I would like to be working for a very prominent computer company such as Dell (my favorite), IBM, or Canon. I would also like to teach, or instruct people who don’t have a clear understanding of computers or really don’t grasp the full concept of computers but can fiddle around with a computer here and there; or those who just don’t understand the concept of computers at all. A typical day in my life would consist of a timely schedule of events. I would get up and exercise in the morning followed by a well cooked breakfast to get me started. Then I would get dressed for work in the most comfortable outfit possible. When I arrived home from work, I would do some reading, eat, and rest and relaxation, and work on my profits from my online home- based business. Then I would go to bed early to get ready for the next day. I would schedule to work through the week but have the weekend off with flexible morning hour, because I want the evening to rest and enjoy a hard day’s work. Then I would go to bed around 10:00 and call it a day.
On top of having all this success in my life, I do plan to share my success with a significant other my future wife. I have always imagined having a lovely wife, and having children. In order for this goal to become a success, I will have to put things in perspective and prioritize in order to get it done. In the future, I would like to be surrounded in love by a family that believes in my success. I realize that the example I place on my children will eventually rub off on them, and as they grow up they will also display successful patterns in their life as well. I would make sure that I do everything in my power to give them my best, and only my best in their lifetime. My other dream when I have a prominent successful job is to get the car of my dreams, a Mercedes Benz. My secondary car would be a BMW or any model from the Ford Company. My dream car has to be smooth and all black (and low on gas). I also would like to invest in having surround sound built in to my car, and great surround speakers as well. I’m really not a big fan of televisions in cars, because too many accidents already happen from a person listening to a cell phone while driving. My home is also something I have always looked into making a monument to my success and all of my dreams. I have always dreamed about having a two-story house. I want a very well organized home, with an office, for my job, a room dedicated to my workout and exercise periods in the morning, a play room (videogame), and a room dedicated to all the things that influenced me most in life, and of course the family room. A simple well kept garden and patio would be a nice add on as well, and a backyard for the kids to play in. All of my dreams go further than what I can imagine, and in time I will have all the things I desire in my future.
The qualities of success consist of eight vital parts in order to become successful in life, a sort of eight- step process to apply in daily walk towards success. The first part is being able to Accept Personal Responsibility. By accepting personal responsibility I am seeing myself as the primary cause of my outcomes and experiences in life and throughout life. I then accept myself as a victim believing that what happens to me is determined primarily by external forces such as fate, luck and powerful others in my life. I do not feel that fate is possible, but it is our responsibility to make the most of what we have learned for ourselves because things do happen in life. The next trait would be Discovering Self-Motivation, finding purpose in my life by discovering personally meaningful goals and dreams. In this case, in order to discover what self-motivation means is also important in the success process towards a great future as well. Most people with this trait have difficulty sustaining motivation, often feeling depressed, frustrated, and resentful about a lack of direction in their lives. The next trait is Mastering Self-Management, or being able to organize oneself in a timely manner. I have to consistently plan and take purposeful actions in pursuit of goals and dreams. These traits, seldom identify specific actions needed to accomplish a desired outcome and when they do, they tend to procrastinate.
Another quality described, that aids in success is the ability to Employ Interdependence, that helps those willing to achieve their goals and dreams (while helping others do the same. When I employ interdependence I am solitary, seldom requesting, even rejecting, rejecting assistance from those who could help; which can be a good thing if I am this type of person. Gaining Self-Awareness is the next trait that is very important in its own way. A person with this trait consciously employs behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes that keep he/she on course. In order to truly gain self-awareness I need to make important decisions unconsciously, being directed by self sabotaging habits and outdated life scripts. The next three traits; Lifelong Learning, Emotional Intelligence, and Believing in Themselves, are three very important traits that somewhat tie in together. All the traits tie in together in some way, but these three really support each other. I find valuable lessons in life, develop emotions that help support goals and dream, then I see them happening (seeing themselves as capable, lovable, and unconditionally worthy human beings.) People with these three traits usually resist learning new ideas and skills, live at the mercy of strong emotions such as anger, and depression, and they feel inadequate to create their desired outcomes and experiences. These traits all have setbacks with less opportunity to understand success, but success is developed over time and on a win-win basis, and situation.
In my journaling over the time in this semester I have incorporated all the traits listed above. Over time I have come to develop a greater respect for myself, and the people I include myself with. But I have found that in my journaling three traits have really been an influence in my daily walk towards success. The first quality is accepting personal responsibility is a very important quality to have a successful life. Examples I have stated on this matter is that I do have a tendency to accept personal responsibility for all my actions, and learn to deal with my responses towards certain situations that occur in my daily life. I believe if I take full responsibility for all my actions, I will have no one else to blame for the consequences that occur on my journey to success, because there will be ups and downs along the way. The second quality is self-motivation; and the role it has played on my life being a success, is as important as well. Self-motivation or persistency as I like to put it is a quality that has aided me through life. Many times in life I have had certain people, situations, occurrences and trials to push me off track. But by being self-motivated I am able to push on, strive towards my future, and get back on track. Motivation really helps encourage me as well and helps me refocus on what I should be doing to get back on track, instead of dwelling on pastimes. The third and most important quality that I find in my life is adopting life-long learning. First of all the word life-long learning has two important key words; life-long and learning. Life-long meaning something having to go through, the trials of life, occurrences, ups and downs in life, and Learning meaning a lesson in life, and idea generated, a lesson learned .
In conclusion I believe I have learned a lot about success and in life, as well as taking a course on success. I have learned that success only comes by being determined, dedicated, focused, and becoming a strong minded person. True success begins in the mind, and it only happens if a person is willing to get beat up a little, and go through it strong. Many so called “celebrities” and “famous people” had to go through a lot to become what they are today; I’m very sure it wasn’t easy. In order to keep myself “on course” all the principles I have stated will have to be incorporated in my life, managed, and simulated through my actions. Life also comes with freedom of choice; we are not bound up by what we choose. In order to better complete our journey of success we need to focus on the things in life that can help us (build us up), not tear us down. I believe that true freedom begins in the mind and if mind focuses on successful things, then the outcome will be success, if I focus on the current situation, if it is bad, I will fail. Success can be measured in many ways, many theories, ideas, and preferences, but only when I focus on success it will happen, it’s as simple as that. Be spontaneous, be honest, be creative, and most of all, dive deep, in the path towards success.