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#Post#: 29--------------------------------------------------
Success: What does it take?
DIR By: RobertLonie
Date: July 19, 2012, 10:40 pm
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Do modern day Americans hate success?
Based on my observations, I have to ask. Success should be
something worthy of praise. Why then, do so-called “haters”
exist?
Athletics is an area where examples of this type of
behavior are easily found. A young man trains his body to be
stronger and faster than his peers. He spends hours practicing
the necessary skills. Then, to fulfill his lifetime dream, he is
drafted by the New York Yankees. Success! “And, the crowd goes
wild!”
That is, unless, he happens to be in Boston, Chicago, Los
Angeles, or pretty much anywhere else in the country. People all
over the United States hate the Yankees. Why? The New York
Yankees are one of the most successful teams in professional
sports.
The Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers, Notre Dame
Fighting Irish, Los Angeles Lakers, University of Southern
California Trojans, Duke Blue Devils, and Boston Celtics are but
a small sample of other teams people love to hate. Oddly, the
Chicago Cubs don'’t seem to share a similar fate. Despite being
a franchise worth millions of dollars, with loyal fans around
the world, they are the “lovable losers.”
Individual athletes suffer similar attitudes towards
achievement. Lebron James, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Kobe
Bryant, Ben Roethlisberger, and Alex Rodriguez all have 2 things
in common: championship rings and legions of people watching to
see them fail.
Obviously, athletes and their teams are not the only places
to find such behavior. Hollywood stars, popular musicians, and
unpopular politicians are followed by paparazzi just waiting to
catch them at their worst moments. Then, the pictures are sold
to the supermarket tabloids. This is done to tarnish their
success. I suppose, seeing them as normal human beings helps the
rest of us cope with being “average.”
On the flipside, it is the American people who build these
individuals up. We celebrate the success of the teams, athletes,
and personalities we like. Indeed, there are some people who are
famous for being famous. Their success comes from marketing
themselves.
At some point, however, the love affair ends. Americans
derive some sort of pleasure when successful people fail.
#Post#: 30--------------------------------------------------
Re: Success: What does it take?
DIR By: RobertLonie
Date: July 19, 2012, 10:50 pm
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President Obama said in a speech, no one succeeds by
themselves. An individual’s success, whatever their chosen path,
is helped along the way. A successful athlete has to have a good
coach, who teaches the proper skills. Businessmen need an
infrastructure which includes: highways, bridges, utilities, and
even the internet. All of these things are built with government
funds.
The President promotes this attitude of successful people
being average. He asserts that small businesses aren’t
successful because of the people who run them. This is just
another example of making extraordinary individuals seem
ordinary.
While President Obama is correct when he states there are
many smart and hard-working Americans, those are not the only
qualities necessary for success. A business owner, like any
other successful person, has to provide their own motivation.
Success, no matter how it is defined, requires something
extra. Most American children are told they can become anything
they want when they grow up. But, when a little girl decides she
is going to be President, no one takes her seriously. If she
really wants to be President, it will take that something extra.
She may be the most intelligent person to walk the Earth.
She may be willing to spend 8 or more hours a day researching
all the relevant social and economic issues to make all the
right choices regarding national policy. She might even have the
looks of a model and the leadership skills of Washington. Still,
if she isn’t willing to take a risk by actually running for the
office, then becoming the first woman President will never be a
reality.
I have to imagine this holds true for anyone who wants to
be President. After all, there have only been 43 men to hold
that office in 223 years. Our current President, Mr. Obama
graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School. He might not
be aware of how selective that institution is when accepting
students. No one gets into Harvard without personal hard work.
And, they certainly don’t graduate with honors because of the
government.
#Post#: 31--------------------------------------------------
Re: Success: What does it take?
DIR By: MumsyLo
Date: July 31, 2012, 4:50 pm
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The failure of a successful person is an indicator to the
average person that they are just as good because they didn't
make that mistake or they see they aren't so high and mighty.
The actual truth is these haters could never make the same
mistakes because they aren't willing to take the chance.
Success isn't so much a matter of hard work as it is the
willingness to try. Some people are fortunate and surrounded by
people that will do the work for them and all the successful
person has to do is be able to motivate them but again that only
works if these fortunate people try to begin with. The more a
person is willing to try the more chance they have of being a
success. A good example is a great poet that never publishes a
poem, ultimately the poet is not a success because no one ever
got to read his/her poems but you could have a lousy poet that
is a success because he/she writes a poem and hands it to
someone that likes it and so talks that person into publishing
and selling it, now we have a successful poet.
So much of life is determined by how many times or things a
person is willing to try thus giving them an opportunity to
succeed. You can't ride a bike if you never get on one and you
can't swim if you won't get in the water, hence you are a
failure.
The main thing I have learned in life is to surround myself with
people who wish me well not ill, people who rejoice in my
successes not my losses, people who want to succeed not those
that want to whine about others success.
The average person does not succeed because he/she never tried
in the first place or they whined when they lost and never tried
again. Hard work can lead to many successes but also to many
losses. It is a willingness to continue in your stride, absorb
the losses and continue toward your goal that leads to success.
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