Definition and concepts
It is a commonly experienced phenomenon that people have objectives to attain in life. Social structures, for example, drive the desire among individuals in lower classes to break through to better living standards as per what they admire. This leads to individuals adopting strategies and approaches that can help them in changing their status. Thoughts or dreams are not however just realized and even after some people making steps towards achieving their objectives they never manage to have positive results.
The outcome of every single initiative is normally identified with success or failure. The term success has been offered a variety of definitions and approached differently depending on societies, and individuals. It has for example been defined in terms of monetary possession with rich individuals being considered successful. Establishment and maintenance of a healthy family in social terms has also been used in societies to define success.
According to Schwaiger, the definition of success varies depending on an individual’s society and the social value that the individual upholds. One of the formal definitions of success however gives it the property of attaining a subject that an individual has desired. This gives success a diverse meaning that starts from small things that an individual may achieve out of sight of any third party. My personal perception of success is in line with this definition to mean any attainment of a predetermined goal by an individual (Swaiger 53).
Based on these definitions of success and my perception towards the subject together with my past life experience, a successful person is that individual who identifies an objective and works to its successful accomplishment. The achievement might not necessarily be a magnificent one that attracts public attention.
A student who has been poorly performing in class, sets his goal at improving by five percent in a next undertaken exam would for example be successful if he attain the five percent increment. My consideration of success to include intent is because some people can find themselves in a better position without necessarily working towards the attainment. This defines luck rather than success.
Key Determinants to Success
From the definition of success that gives it the property of set objectives that are then to be pursued by an individual to attainment lays the ground to the factors that affect it. The basis of success that established the goal to be pursued is for example a point to its factor.
In the laying out of the goals, an individual is normally faced with fears over the possibility of positive results as a result of the initiative to be undertaken. There are also always a variety of other options that an individual can pursue with fears of loosing better opportunities following the adoption of a given option. Being daring with respect to risk taking is therefore a determinant of success.
Without the courage to make choices, an individual will not even be able to establish a goal to pursue. Once a goal has been identified, plan for adopting an approach into realizing the objective becomes a necessity. An individual must at this moment have the capacity to creatively identify ways through which the goal can be best realized. The capacity to develop plans and strategies for implementation thus becomes the next determinant of success.
An individual who has a dream but can not figure out how such a dream can be realized whether directly or through other people will most likely stagnate with the dream at its initial stage. With an identified plan and consideration that there are always challenges to every initiative, persistence of a person plays another role in determining the success of the individual.
Persistence involves the will to move on even in threats of failure to attain the planned goals. Hard work is another determinant in attaining success of individuals. Hard work that starts from the initial stages of an activity up to its ultimate accomplishment thus forms the basis of determinants to success (Dalton and Alger 270).
A third party’s Perception of Success
One of the parties that I have considered to be successful around me is my parents. An interaction with them throughout my life has offered me an understanding of their perception and understanding of what success is all about.
According to my parents and as I was driven by my mother, success means the accomplishment of a dream that one has. With this consideration of meaning of success, their definition of success is similar to mine in the sense that success involves the identification of a goal which in their view is the dream that an individual may have.
My parents have considerably been successful with respect to their dream that they accomplished. Their success was attained through persistence that finally enabled them to identify the tool to their success and how to acquire that tool. Though they finally attained their dream, they were occasionally faced with setbacks in the process.
Their dream being financial stability when they had no adequate education saw them struggle to get jobs which they occasionally lost till my mother got a job in a shop that established her as a business person. Poverty and being over ambitious were their major challenges (Dalton and Alger 270).
Comparison of Ideas
The writers had a variety of opinion about success. According to Dalton and Alger, there are a variety of uncontrollable forces that affect success of an individual. Discrimination for instance was identified by the authors as a factor towards success. Barriers between social classes also play a role to the success of an individual.
These ideas compares with mine on the basis that it is not very easy to break barriers into success. This for example explains the rigidity as realized in social classes that are very difficult to cross. Success thus depends on a variety of factors other than those controllable by individuals (Dalton and Alger 270).
Personal Hope to Success
As an individual, I have resorted to adopt a stepwise approach in pursuing my objectives to my ultimate success. My goals in life include my academic success in the short run and economic stability that can adequately support my family back at home. Obstacles that I have realized over my success include language barrier together with unstable economic background that has forced me to work as I study. My plan for success is basically based on perseverance and hard work to attain my goals.
Oppressions to success
Oppression, realized in any form negatively affects people’s capacity to succeed. Taking forms such as segregation, cultural difference and even self concealment, oppression directly affects the capacity to succeed by limiting resources (Richard 3).
Works Cited
Dalton, Cruz and Alger, Horato. From Ragged Dick. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis, 2010. Print.
Richard, Valencia. Chicano School Failure and Success: Past, Present, and Future. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis, 2010. Print.
Swaiger John. In Search of a Good Fit. New York, NY: Xulon Press, 2009. Print.