Powerful of Attitude Whatever You

¶ … Powerful of Attitude

Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Begin it now. -Goethe (1749-1832)

In our society, success is oftentimes portrayed as having certain things like a car with cool rims, a house with a pool, or a membership at a fancy club. In fact, many high school students lack motivation to do anything in school because to them success is so far away. Even though I have had many failures and my life is not perfect, I have been around enough to know that these students have it all wrong. First, success has nothing to do with the rims on your car or the place you hang out, success is about something more. Second, the worst thing that these students can do is to give up or throw away their sense of motivation because success seems too far away because it is their motivation that is one of the most important things in being a success. In an article by Kris Van Calster and Willy Lens and Joseph R. Nuttin, "Affective attitude toward the personal future," they explain that my belief about success and attitude is actually true. They discovered that when a young person hangs on to a positive attitude and believes they can achieve success, then students will feel motivated to study and their school results will be high. But, if a student has a positive attitude but believes they may not get their even if they try, then the student will end up not trying at school and giving up (Calster, Lens, Nuttin, 1987, p.1-2). Even though their study used boys only, I believe that the same is true for young girls: if a young girl or boy has a positive attitude and believes they can do it if they just work at it, then the student will stay motivated and then they will be successful.

The article by Calster and Lens and Nuttin also believes that success is not necessarily measured by money and that success is more about going to college and not giving up (Calston, 1987, p.3). Similar to the article by Calster, Lens, and Nuttin, Lori Radun wrote "A New Definition of Success," and tells us that most people think success is about getting to something in the future. She says that success is about who you are now and that it is healthier to think of success as three dimensional: (1) Are you the best you can be? (2) Do you have a plan for what you want in your future? (3) Do you enjoy life and what it offers you right now? (Radun, 2007). This kind of success doesn't mean you have the best rims or a designer purse. This kind of success is something that even the poorest kids in the worse neighborhoods can find. This kind of success is the kind that comes when you are trying your best, when you have a goal in the future, and when you feel good about your choices right now. This kind of success is actually something that makes me a success even though I don't have a fancy car or a big house. I am successful because I am trying doing what I can do to have a better future. The fact that kids that give up because success seems so far is tragic. Like Thomas Edison said a very long time ago, "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up" (Edison).

We can all hold on to our motivation to be successful even if we live in the projects or we don't want to go back home because it isn't a happy place as long as we just try to remember that success isn't as complicated as people think. Ralph Emerson tells us a definition of success in his poem "Success" that doesn't at all have anything to do with material things. Success is "To Laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, To find the best in others, To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, A garden patch or a redeemed social condition; To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." In his poem, there is not one word talking about the things a person has or does not have. This kind of definition is one that allows for everyone to be a success. Even my auntie could be a success since she always makes us laugh, she makes us pick up trash in the park that is not even ours, and she always helps her old neighbor. She does make the world better and she laughs and she sees beauty in things most kids would not look at. It makes a lot of sense that if we want to live in a world where people are appreciated for being good then we should look at success as more than about the price of someone's purse or jeans. We should care if they are like my auntie, not like Paris Hilton.

Another part of success that the journal article talks about is a person's attitude. It is a person's attitude that makes a person be a success or be a failure. An old famous American writer and clergyman called Charles R. Swindoll tells everyone: "The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill….The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude" (Swindoll 1934). Charles Swindoll also thinks that attitude matters more than money or things and he reminds us that we all have attitude. Our attitude is definitely in our control and we can make our lives something by staying positive or we can choose to have a bad attitude and make ourselves miserable. I refuse to let anyone or anything or fear take the one thing that I have that I can't seem to buy in a store. I especially do not want to lose my attitude because I have learned through my own experiences and through the experiences and observations of other people that a positive attitude is what helps a person to finish hard things like schools and college and to face tough jobs.