Matthew Gordon

Professor Thomas
UWRT 1102
April 8, 2016
Reflection
As I am creating this piece I am not sure of how to write it or how formal it
should be. I do not know exactly how to lead into topics or how to transition even
though we read on how to do it. This writing does not feel natural and forced if that
makes sense. I didn't know where to make new paragraphs and didn't want a
paragraph that was significantly longer than others. I feel that my paper could have
flowed a lot better and that I was jumping around quite a bit but am not sure how to
fix that. I was unsure about how to end my paper, i didn't have a good ending
phrase.
The ongoing conversation about success is very broad because there are
many things that can determine success. Although, most of society only cares about
societal success instead of personal success. I feel that out of those three, that
respect is the most important. Dr. Koustab Ghosh sees success as a comparison to
circumstances in a similar class while Dr. Joanna Higgins defines it, success as
process as well as result. Journey as well as arrival. For without the journey, there
can be no arrival. No success story. I think both of these are very accurate in their
own way, however I feel that most people in society, referring to Ghosh's definition,
have a hard time differentiating between the different classes. This means that
some people confuse societal success and personal success because they feel that
if they have not achieved societal success instantly then they are failures. Many
successful people can say that success requires multiple failures so that we may
learn from our mistakes.
Another reason that a lot of people don't succeed is lack of self-confidence or
motivation. I have a personal example of this; growing up I always made good

grades, but not phenomenal grades and my dad never seemed happy for me even
though I felt successful. I feel that this crushed motivation I had for doing well in
school and trying my hardest, while reverting my attention into video games and
online play. I started this because I could feel successful and my dad didn't have
much experience with this sort of stuff so if he made an opinion I would see it as
unimportant. I feel that if my dad had been more encouraging and seemed more
impressed it would have given me more motivation for doing things. That is why I
chose my question "Is personal success better than societal success?" My opinion is
that personal success is better because it gives motivation and a sense of
accomplishment which can drive a person to reaching their full potential over time.
Referring back to my example, I felt personal success but I was not sure what
to do with it because I was young and my parents were my role models like most
kids. Because my dad was not impressed I was then not impressed and I feel that
has caused a lack of motivation for me even today. Don't let this happen to you, if
you tried your hardest and you feel that you did well, don't let anyone else tell you
otherwise. At the beginning I said how other people see success and how they
define it but what about me, how do I define success? I define success as an
achievement that is outstanding enough for positive recognition. In this case the
positive recognition could come from anyone including yourself. I remember one
time my dad was picking me up from high school and I showed him a quiz I got back
from math class with a 98, and he said that's good with no sense of positive energy.
I remember asking him if he was glad and he responded with "well it's not a 100%"
and that crushed all of the spirit I had for the rest of that day.
Now that I have defined success and given a good personal experience I
would like to expand and explain my question even more. Personal success to me is
something that only you or a small group of people may find successful. Societal

success to me is something that most people in the world would find successful, and
there are many different places in between. Ghosh makes a good example of the in
between by ensuring "a businessman would be successful if he gets a lot of
promotions and becomes CEO, while a soccer player would be successful if he goes
to the professional level." Both of these professions make a lot of money, which is a
driving factor for society and were successful in their separate communities so the
whole world might not see the other successful but that does not mean it is only
personal success.
Dr. Richard Dobbins says the lack of confidence or motivation can also be
seen as a psychological barrier that some people don't know exists, because people
may not possess certain skills or knowledge which is not always true. Dobbins
performed a study and found that 15% of the success encountered will occur
because of knowledge and skills while the other 85% is attitude. Enjoying something
is the best way to get involved with it, because adopting a positive mental attitude
will dramatically and very quickly increase your success rate. He also talks about
the law of control which means that if a person has 100% responsibility in their life
than that person can feel 100% in control of their life. For people, breaking this first
barrier is found most important by educators because it can show how well they can
face other barriers in the future.
With all of this being said I feel that personal success is more important
because that can lead to self-confidence which can cause a person to thrive in some
environments. Breaking the psychological barrier and believing in yourself is the key
thing to learn here. Societal success is always fantastic but reaching that may be a
struggle. A positive attitude and healthy mindset can help a person be successful
even if they don't have the right knowledge or skills. Small goals that lead to big
goals, planning, is also helpful. Stop worrying about if you try something and it

doesn't go according to plan, have a good attitude about it and you have a better
chance at succeeding. Don't let society tell you that the great things you have done
aren't so because as long as you believe in yourself, a whole world of opportunities
await you.
Works Cited
Dobbins, Richard, and Barrie O. Pettman. "The Psychology of Success."Equal
Opportunities international 11.1 (n.d.): n. pag. CrossRef. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.
Ghosh, Koustab. "Prioritization of individual Success indicators for Managerial
Success." international Journal of Organizational Analysis 21.3 (2013): 26087. Emerald Publishing Group Limited. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
Higgins, Joanna. "What is Success?" Kalmbach Publishing Co. 107.4 (1994): 7.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.