Successful People's Points of View in Life

Successful People's Points of View in Life

Thesis Statement:

Successful people need to change even when things are going well.

Outline

I. Factors in achieving success

A. Education

B. Family

C. Friends

D. Environment

II. Important characteristics of successful people

A. Pointing out our mistakes

B. Keeping minds open and receptive to new ideas

1. Hungry for knowledge

2. Think for self-improvement

C. Seeing everyone we meet as a potential teacher we can learn from

1. Being a good listener

2. Being a good follower

III. Reasons of people's failure

A. Extrinsic factors

1. High expectations from families

2. Reactions of praise or blame

3. Rewards or punishments

B. Intrinsic factors

1. Own expectations

2. Level of desire to succeed

3. Sense of whether or not we are challenged in a meaning way

IV. Four beliefs of successful people

A. "I choose to succeed"

B. "I can succeed"

C. "I will succeed"

D. "I have succeeded"

Successful People's Points of View in Life

Everyone wants to succeed, but few people take time to study success. Similarly, everyone dislikes failure, but few people invest the time and energy necessary to learn from their mistakes. Often we are too busy basking in the glory of our triumphs to think through what we did right, or the pain of failure is sufficiently intense that many of us want to move on and put it behind us as soon as we can. Yet those who want to improve their chances of success can not afford to disregard the issue of why, despite seemingly equal levels of intelligence and education, some people succeed where others fail.

As many people say, how learners understand success and failure exerts an important influence on their level of achievement. There are several parameters according to which high achievers tend to differ from low achievers. These parameters are derived to motivation and performance referred to as attribution.

The factors that contribute to success can be assigned into two categories, extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic factors flow from decisions made by people other than learners and include their expectations, reactions of praise or blame, and any rewards or punishments they may offer. Intrinsic factors, by contrast, arise from learners themselves and include their expectations, their level of desire to succeed, and their sense whether or not they were challenged in a meaningful way. It is important to present learners with tasks that challenge but do not overwhelm them. If they feel that they never had a chance or that they did not need to push themselves at all in order to succeed, they are not likely to benefit substantially from the experience.

If people are confronted with tasks for which they have no means of preparing, they are less likely to feel pride in their work, even when they happen to succeed because people are more likely to fail in situations for which they lack preparation, confronting people with questions for which they are not prepared can prove counterproductive, producing discouragement and reducing the motivation to learn. To put this principle into practice, people should structure learning experiences in such a way that learners recognize the relevance of their own preparation.

By indicating to people the level of effort that is expected from them, people can further enhance their sense of learning effectiveness. The goal should be to give people a sense that they are in control of their own destiny. One of the traits shared in common by successful people is a sense that they make things happen, as opposed to the sense that things happen to them. When things go poorly, they blame it on bad luck or on actions of others over which they have no control.

Another key factor in how people explain their successes and failures is whether they believe internal factors are fixed or changeable. A common example of an internal factor that many people regard as unalterable is ability. As a result of few disappointments early in their education careers, some people adopt a "can't do" attitude. People who interpret their failures as resulting from their own intrinsic lack of ability are less likely to feel challenged by disappointments and less likely to try to change their approach in the future. Of course, every learner at every level of ability has innate limitations. The problem with invoking those limitations as an explanation for failure is the fact that many people do so prematurely.

There is a difference between recognizing mistakes and labeling yourself a failure. In a sense, mistakes should be welcomed, because people who never make mistakes have ceased to innovate and learn. Mistakes are learning opportunities that constitute the stepping-stones to success. People who believe that they lack ability, that the tasks they face are too difficult or that they have no control over the course of events in their lives are much more likely to consider themselves failures than people who interpret setbacks in terms of correctable deficits of understanding or effort. Perseverance is the most common trait of successful people.

In order to achieve something, it is vitally important to clearly understand what one is trying to do. Learners who aim merely to avoid mistakes have lesser chance to be successful. In such circumstances, learning becomes a product of some other pursuit and is likely to be less efficient and less effective. The best learners are the one who seek out challenges and continue to question and grow throughout their careers.

There are varieties of reasons why successful people succeed. Some factors can be changed