What Actually Success Is - Essay Example

Success With the dream of a successful life, people put in huge amounts of effort in studying and other related activities. Success is at the core of all this hard work. However, if people are asked “what is success”; a lot of these people might not be able to give a lucid response. These people might even hesitate as they do not have a clear idea of what actually success is. In fact, defining the real meaning of success is a challenging task. If someone asked me the same question, I would say that success is basically achieving a goal. Thus, if my answer is considered correct, then the definition of success would vary from person to person, depending on his or her personal goals. Most of the people in life attribute IQ to success. They believe that if a person has a high IQ score, he or she will be extremely successful in their lives. However, in my opinion, the most important ingredient to achieve a goal, in other words, the most important factor to succeed is not an IQ score; rather it is the self-control in people. As previously mentioned, people usually assume that s successful life is promised to people possessing a high IQ. In today’s world, especially in Korea, most people believe that the level of university plays an important role in an individual’s success and right of admission to these prestigious universities is limited to students with high IQ scores. However, I still doubt the fact that high IQ results in achievement of success. My point of view has also been supported by Gladwell in his article “The trouble with geniuses”, who indicates that it is creativity, not high IQ that is the key factor for success in life. The author further asserts that “the relationship between success and IQ works only up to a point.” (79, Gladwell). In other words, Gladwell suggests that IQ is not the most important ingredient to achieve success. I agree with Gladwell’s assertion as I believe that even if an individual possesses a high IQ, he or she still needs to work to achieve success in life. For instance, when I was in elementary school and junior high school, there was a special class designed only for students who were so-called geniuses. Students whose IQ was higher than 130, were the only ones qualified to take that course. The purpose of the class was to amplify these students’ IQ and turn them into real geniuses so that they can play an important role in the society. A number of people believed that this course would help students a become members of prestigious universities. This specific course was so popular among parents and students that a few of my friends who were known to be smart students, desired to take that course which would result in admission into a top-notch university and a bright future. However, unfortunately, a number of those students who took that course were not accepted in top colleges. Overall, most of these students attended good colleges or colleges that were not famous. On the other hand, I observed that students who were not a part of that course, as in whose IQ was not as high, got accepted in various prestigious colleges and now have successful jobs. Thus, it is clear that IQ plays an important role in the success of an individual to an extent, but not completely. As long as individuals possess a certain level of IQ, IQ itself would not have a significant influence in our lives. An article, “Don’t” written by Jonah Lehrer, also suggests that IQ is not the most important factor in a successful life. This article places emphasis on self control as an important ingredient for success by revealing test results that indicate that who controlled themselves well were more successful. In this article, Mischel argues “intelligence is largely at the mercy of self-control: even the smartest kids still need to do their homework.” (4, Lehrer). Here Mischel means that even the children with extraordinarily high IQ need to put in certain amount of effort to achieve success in life. By not striving hard enough, there is no chance of succeeding even with a high IQ. Therefore, I believe that one of the most important factors in success is to learn to train ourselves to control our mind. Learning to control our minds would be extremely helpful for individuals who want to achieve success in their lives as mind is something that really controls the person and plays an important role in one’s life. Unfortunately, most people are controlled by their mind, rather the other way around. I am a prime example of this phenomenon; when my mind feels that I have no desire to study, I am unable to focus on studying at all. All I can think of is taking a rest, even for a moment. On the other hand, once my mind decides to study, either for a final exams or something else, it turns me into the study mode and I am unable to think of anything else as more important. Thus, it is clear from the above-mentioned example that my life is totally controlled by my mind and I want whatever my mind wants. This controlling of behavior by the mind can be overcome as suggested by the article “Don’t” which says that “people learn how to use their mind just as they learn how to use a computer: through trial and error." (8, Lehrer). The author here basically means that that by putting in an effort, people can improve their ability to control their mind. If people really want to achieve the dream of a successful life, it is crucial for them to learn to use their mind and control it rationally. If they are able to do this, it would mean that half of the success has already been achieved and they have started to make their lives more effective. Yet another article deals with achieving success in life. In this article, the author uses the Grant Study conducted by George Vaillant to highlight the importance of factors other than intelligence leading to a successful life (1, Shenk). In the article, Bock described normal being a“combination of sentiments and physiological factors which in toto is commonly interpreted as successful living” (1, Shenk). In other words, the right combination of psychological and biological factors leads to individuals lead a successful life. In order to lead a successful life, Vaillant identified seven factors; “mature adaption, education, stable marriage, not smoking, not abusing alcohol, some exercise and healthy weight” (4, Shenk). Among these, Vaillant asserts that adaption is the most important which is similar to the Freud’s defense mechanism (3, Shenk). He indicated that it was not the fact that the number of challenges an individual faces, it is actually the way individuals respond to these problems (3, Shenk). For example, whenever I came across any problem in life, I either try to find humor in it to make it less challenging or try to distract myself from it so I can deal with it when I am in a better frame of mind. Thus, Vaillant claims that “it is a social aptitude, not intellectual brilliance or parental social class that leads to successful aging” (4, Shenk). In conclusion, the above-mentioned articles demonstrate that even though intelligence is an important ingredient leading a successful life, it is not the most important. Having a high IQ does not always mean that people will have a successful life. In order to achieve success, people have to try and control their minds. They have to learn to train themselves to do things that would lead them to a successful life and not do things that their mind desires. Therefore, the common fact in all the articles suggests that if people try to control themselves and try to find alternative ways to deal with the problem at hand, they would be able to achieve success which would ultimately result in fulfilling the dream of a successful life. Works Cited Gladwell, Malcom. Outliers: The story of success. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. Print. Lehrer, Jonah. Don’t! The secret of self-control. The New Yorker. 18 May 2009. 29 April 2011. Shenk, Joshua, W. “What makes us happy?” The Atlantic. June 2009. 29 April 2011. Read More