What Factors Influence Your Level of Success?
A lot of times when people fail, they come up with an excuse as to why they failed. They then proceed to give up because they think if they failed once, they’ll fail again. Failure is never permanent. People have the ability to change how well they do in life. It all has to do with how much effort they put in. The motivation of a student has everything to do with how well they do in their academic endeavors and in their futures. It’s up to the student to motivate themselves to do well, instead of giving explanations of all the reasons why they “can’t” succeed. Motivation is the only deciding factor in the amount of success a person can achieve.
Outside factors are often linked to a student’s academic pursuits, but it’s not an excuse for their successes and failures. The struggles in a student’s life does not decide their fate for them. They’re more than capable of deciding their path for themselves. Studies have shown that in general, students who are abused or have parents who are struggling in their own lives, don’t do as well in school as kids who don’t have those issues. “All students can learn. But the circumstances of a child’s life...present challenges that must be overcome...violence has long-term impacts, affecting their expectations about life…[they] may see little purpose in completing an education (Koppich 4).” These kids don’t struggle in school because of what they’re going through at home. They struggle because they begin to think that there’s no hope for them to change the way their life is. They think that what’s happening in their lives is completely out of their control, so they give up.
In a TED Talk by Ken Robinson, he discussed the new “epidemic” of ADHD that has become increasingly present across the United States. He explained that in the modern age, there are limitless amounts of technology at your fingertips. Student’s minds are filled up with so many distractions, it’s hard for them to focus on school and they end up not doing as well as they could (Robinson- Changing Education Paradigms). ADHD is over-medicated. Because of the amount of distractions in kids’ lives, they struggle to concentrate, but that doesn’t always mean they have ADHD. The inability to concentrate isn’t a sentence for failure. Its really just a matter of self-control and discipline. Success and the influence of outside factors is not a direct relationship, but success and motivation is. Students who have the motivation to keep going in spite of whatever they're going through in their personal lives, always have the opportunity to succeed.
Everyone has the ability to change the amount of success they can achieve. An example of someone who did this is Liz Murray. In the memoir, “Breaking Night” by Liz Murray (you may remember me mentioning it in one of my previous posts), Murray discusses all of the hardships she underwent throughout her early life. She was living in a home with parents who were drug addicts and weren’t able to take care of her. Her and her sister, Lisa, often didn’t have food, and they were exposed to dangerous people because of their parents’ addictions. Later on, when Liz became a teenager, she ended up becoming homeless. She didn’t have a home, or money, or hardly any belongings, and she stopped going to school altogether. She was worrying about how she was going to survive living on the streets, so schoolwork wasn’t one of her main priorities. Eventually, she decided that she was going to go back to school. She wanted to have a future, so she became determined to go to high school, and do well. That was the only way she would have a future. She ended up completely turning her life around, and going to Harvard University.
A recent study was conducted that had results that lead some people to believe that IQ is a made-up concept. “They raised an important and puzzling question about the supposedly low-IQ children (Tough).” It showed that students with lower IQ’s actually did better on exams than students with higher IQ’s when they were given M&M’s for getting good test scores . They were originally pegged as “not as smart” and it was predicted that they would do worse than the kids with higher IQ’s. When they were given an incentive to do well, they were able to motivate themselves to do better than they originally thought was possible. Similar to Liz Murray, if someone has a reason to do well, they’ll do better. She had every “excuse” to give up and not do well, but she used her struggles as a motivator. She saw the way her parents ended up, and she didn’t want to end up the same way. She had the motivation to do well, and that motivation allowed her to rise above all of the things she went through, and she achieved a high level of success. No matter what obstacles a person has standing in the way, there’s always a way to overcome it. In Angela Duckworth’s TED Talk, she explained the “growth mindset.” The “growth mindset” is the idea that the ability to learn can be changed based on your level of effort (Duckworth). A person’s ability to learn and grow is never a fixed quality. It’s always changing depending on how much effort you’re willing to put in. Failure is never permanent. Success is impacted by your home life, how easy it is for you to learn new concepts, and your ability to concentrate. Those things may make certain things harder to achieve certain things, but it’s never an excuse.
The power to change the course of a person’s life is in the person’s hands. If they’re not on a path to success, they can change that. There’s no excuse to not be able to. The only thing that can hold someone back from success, is a lack of motivation. The level of motivation a person has is always changeable. It’s up to them to find their grit, and chase success.
Outside factors are often linked to a student’s academic pursuits, but it’s not an excuse for their successes and failures. The struggles in a student’s life does not decide their fate for them. They’re more than capable of deciding their path for themselves. Studies have shown that in general, students who are abused or have parents who are struggling in their own lives, don’t do as well in school as kids who don’t have those issues. “All students can learn. But the circumstances of a child’s life...present challenges that must be overcome...violence has long-term impacts, affecting their expectations about life…[they] may see little purpose in completing an education (Koppich 4).” These kids don’t struggle in school because of what they’re going through at home. They struggle because they begin to think that there’s no hope for them to change the way their life is. They think that what’s happening in their lives is completely out of their control, so they give up.
In a TED Talk by Ken Robinson, he discussed the new “epidemic” of ADHD that has become increasingly present across the United States. He explained that in the modern age, there are limitless amounts of technology at your fingertips. Student’s minds are filled up with so many distractions, it’s hard for them to focus on school and they end up not doing as well as they could (Robinson- Changing Education Paradigms). ADHD is over-medicated. Because of the amount of distractions in kids’ lives, they struggle to concentrate, but that doesn’t always mean they have ADHD. The inability to concentrate isn’t a sentence for failure. Its really just a matter of self-control and discipline. Success and the influence of outside factors is not a direct relationship, but success and motivation is. Students who have the motivation to keep going in spite of whatever they're going through in their personal lives, always have the opportunity to succeed.
Everyone has the ability to change the amount of success they can achieve. An example of someone who did this is Liz Murray. In the memoir, “Breaking Night” by Liz Murray (you may remember me mentioning it in one of my previous posts), Murray discusses all of the hardships she underwent throughout her early life. She was living in a home with parents who were drug addicts and weren’t able to take care of her. Her and her sister, Lisa, often didn’t have food, and they were exposed to dangerous people because of their parents’ addictions. Later on, when Liz became a teenager, she ended up becoming homeless. She didn’t have a home, or money, or hardly any belongings, and she stopped going to school altogether. She was worrying about how she was going to survive living on the streets, so schoolwork wasn’t one of her main priorities. Eventually, she decided that she was going to go back to school. She wanted to have a future, so she became determined to go to high school, and do well. That was the only way she would have a future. She ended up completely turning her life around, and going to Harvard University.
A recent study was conducted that had results that lead some people to believe that IQ is a made-up concept. “They raised an important and puzzling question about the supposedly low-IQ children (Tough).” It showed that students with lower IQ’s actually did better on exams than students with higher IQ’s when they were given M&M’s for getting good test scores . They were originally pegged as “not as smart” and it was predicted that they would do worse than the kids with higher IQ’s. When they were given an incentive to do well, they were able to motivate themselves to do better than they originally thought was possible. Similar to Liz Murray, if someone has a reason to do well, they’ll do better. She had every “excuse” to give up and not do well, but she used her struggles as a motivator. She saw the way her parents ended up, and she didn’t want to end up the same way. She had the motivation to do well, and that motivation allowed her to rise above all of the things she went through, and she achieved a high level of success. No matter what obstacles a person has standing in the way, there’s always a way to overcome it. In Angela Duckworth’s TED Talk, she explained the “growth mindset.” The “growth mindset” is the idea that the ability to learn can be changed based on your level of effort (Duckworth). A person’s ability to learn and grow is never a fixed quality. It’s always changing depending on how much effort you’re willing to put in. Failure is never permanent. Success is impacted by your home life, how easy it is for you to learn new concepts, and your ability to concentrate. Those things may make certain things harder to achieve certain things, but it’s never an excuse.
The power to change the course of a person’s life is in the person’s hands. If they’re not on a path to success, they can change that. There’s no excuse to not be able to. The only thing that can hold someone back from success, is a lack of motivation. The level of motivation a person has is always changeable. It’s up to them to find their grit, and chase success.
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