Adversity and Happiness in Success

Adversity and Happiness in Success

( Out of Adversity)

By: Alex Morris My Definition of Success: The accomplishment of one’s goals while simultaneously maintaining a state of happiness.

Bill Gates’ Success Story Bill gates has had his fair share of adversity on the pathway to success, inherently taking him to unprecedented levels of success. This has come from learning from his failures and using them to his advantage.

Gates’ adversity began in college, when he attended Harvard to originally study law. Although he intended to study law, he focussed more on computers and showed little to no interest in his major studies. Midway through his junior year, Gates dropped out of Harvard to pursue a business created in high school with his partner Paul Allen (Bill Gates Biography). This sequence may appear as unfortunate for many, but deep inside Gates knew he had a bright future ahead. Gates and his partner continued to pursue their dreams in the computer world, developing software for companies. Although Allen and Gaits had a rough beginning, their fierce competitiveness drove the company forward producing top of the line work. From here, they developed Microsoft, at the time unheard of. Within a couple of years Gates’ established himself as the head of the company. Microsoft continued to grow as Gates hurled its innovative ideas into the future. By the mid eighties, Microsoft appeared on the forefront of personal technology companies. In 2000, Gates and his wife, Melinda, began their own charitable organization known as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed to combat international healthcare and poverty. By 2010, Bill Gates had a personal net worth of 53 billion dollars, among the highest in the world. Aware of his extreme wealth, Gates stepped down as Chairman of Microsoft as he decided to shift his focus on his charity. Using this, Gates has greatly expanded his international charity, finding innovative ways to help the world’s poor. The biggest takeaway from Gate’s success comes from the combination of his ability to overcome adversity at a young age, while also maintaining a happy life. Also, Gates’ ability to pursue a true passion of his truly defines his success as he not only achieves great accomplishments, but also maintains a state of happiness. Furthermore, without his love for helping people in need, he would lack an essential aspect of his life that cannot be replaced. Another important aspect of his life lies within his ability to bounce back after failure, as he displays this trait many times throughout his life. Many people would turn away from the bold idea of dropping out of college, but Gates embraced it. He used the doubt from others as fuel to motivate him, driving him to success. Also, he brilliantly realized that the stability law school could bring would not make him truly happy. In sum, Gates’ bold ideas and courage to pursue his passion serve as a reminder to all that happiness

truly decides one’s ability to attain success and that failure and adversity serve no reason to shy away from success.

Bill and Melinda Gates receive the presidential medal of freedom from Barack Obama (Andrew, Harnik. Bill).

J.K. Rowling Success Story Joanne, formally known as J.K. Rowling grew up in an average socioeconomic household in England, where she studied language and arts intensively through college. After this, She worked for researching companies such as Amnesty where she came up with the dazzling idea of Harry Potter in 1990 (J.K. Rowling’s Magical). Nearly a year after this idea struck her mind, her mother died from Multiple Sclerosis. This crippled Joanne, but also motivated her to continue writing the first book of her soon to be infamous story. Three years later, her husband left her and her young daughter, Jessica. In the years to come, Rowling struggled to support her daughter while completing her novel.

Finally, Rowling completed her first novel, unaware of the struggles yet to come. Arguably the biggest challenge of this process lied in finding a publisher for her book. Rowling sent her book to thirteen di erent publishers, and after the thirteenth attempt, Bloomsbury Children’s Books granted Rowling the opportunity of a lifetime. They bought her book for four thousand dollars. The book became an instant hit, gaining international success as it won many awards. With this, the Scottish Arts Council granted Rowling with the opportunity to write full time. Within a year, Rowling finished her second novel in The Chamber of Secrets. By 2000, Rowland had produced three very successful novels, with much more to come. In 2001, the first Harry Potter movie released, becoming a hit success and expanding the already massive brand Rowling had created. By 2006, Rowling became an international literary rockstar, selling millions of copies within hours of their release. This unprecedented amount of success continued to blossom through the twenty first century, along with the release of dozens of other projects. In all, Rowling became one of five self made women billionaires and the first billion dollar author. The biggest takeaway from Rowling’s success comes from the impressive combination of overcoming a series of strenuous obstacles to achieve greatness, but also doing what she loved.

Writing happened to be Rowling’s passion, and her ability to turn her passion into a shot at success truly indicates her determination and love for what she does. Without this passion, Rowling would have struggled to dig deep and find the motivation to fight through those tough times. Another important aspect of Rowling’s story comes from the brutal rejection she received from publishers.

Many people would turn away from such brutal adversity, but Rowling found a way to keep grinding towards her goals and it eventually paid o . In summary, Rowling’s most important qualities come from her ability to drive through such brutal adversity and still conquer unprecedented amounts of success, while keeping a constant state of happiness.

Rowling (Second Left) with the main cast of Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling With).

Failure and Adversity in My Dad’s Career How do you think failure fits into success? I think a big misconception in society is that failure means giving up and it is a major sign of weakness. I believe that one cannot truly be successful without a few experiences of failure. This is important for a few reasons. First, if you have experienced failure before, you know what it feels like and should have learned from it. You should have noticed some tell tale signs that you were on that path and eventually learn how to steer away from it. This is essential for not only your journey to success, but also maintaining it and managing yourself out of bad situations. Failure also exposes people to adversity, and how to strive when experiencing it. Many people know that humans are clearly not perfect, as everyone knows the saying, “Im only human”. As humans, we are bound to make mistakes and unfortunately it happens pretty often. Also, it is our responsibility to get back up and learn from our mistakes. Rising up after falling is imperative to anyone’s success. Living a life without adversity may seem good on the outside, but cannot truly measure the heart and determination of someone. This idea is widely known through the saying, “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor,”. This means that without failure and experiencing adversity, you cannot learn from your mistakes or realize any flaws in yourself. Another example of this is if you fail, you find an ugly mistake or flaw in yourself or something that you’re doing. If you’re truly dedicated to finding success, then this recognition will drive you to fix that flaw and make sure you never make that mistake again. But in the end, it all comes down to how badly you want something. It may seem like i’m glorifying failure, but Im not. I'm looking at the positive e ects of it. In all but a few aspects, failure is truly miserable and embarrassing because it exposes your biggest weaknesses to not only yourself, but sometimes everyone around you. In the end, you should never be afraid of failure, but also never accept it. Failure should drive you, as you turn your failure into the driving force that carries you to success. How do you make sure you stay happy while working? Staying happy while working is undoubtedly the most important aspect of your profession, as your ability to be happy dictates your success. Luckily I find my field of work pretty interesting, therefore it keeps me engaged and motivated to succeed. Most importantly, my work does not feel like an obligation. Although my

time at work isn't necessarily the time of my life, I still have a passion for what I do as it drives me forward in the world.

Success, Adversity, and Happiness in Movies Chris Gardner, a risky salesman in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, displays countless acts of enduring adversity while sacrificing his happiness. This true story takes place in San Francisco during the Eighties. Gardner, a family man, invested his family’s savings into a series bone density scanners. This product, unwanted by the medical world, drags down Gardner and his family. During this tough economic time, his wife leaves him and his toddler son to fend for themselves. Gardner and his son, Christopher, are forced to jump from shelter to shelter in order to stay o

the streets, as

Gardner attempts to sell his product. In the midst of this struggle, Gardner applies for a six month unpaid internship as a stockbroker. In the end, Gardner earns a promotion to a full paying job. On the other hand, the infamous tale, Finding Nemo displays Marlin the Clown Fish’s the long lasting fight to find his lost son, Nemo. During this endeavour, the negative father finds an unlikely companion in the charismatic character of Dory. Marlin and Dory travel across the sea to find Nemo, as they encounter many grueling setbacks and form an unforgettable bond. In the end, Marlin and Nemo are reunited, but add a third member to their family in Dory. These heartwarming stories share many traits in common. Firstly, both father figures endure many hardships and sacrifices for their child, but luckily for them all of their hard work pays o

as they eventually accomplish their goals. Another important

aspect of their journeys lies within their never ending persistence, even through all of the adversity thrown their way. Importantly, they managed to not only overcome the adversity in their path to success, but they used it as motivation. On the contrary, both of these characters achieved their goals solely for their children. Furthermore, they compromise their happiness for their children's safety and future. Although, Gardner, from The Pursuit of Happyness, somewhat achieved his goals for himself as he strived to climb up the ranks in the business world. Though, Gardner’s son directly benefited from his father’s success, as he still served Gardner as a prime motivator for him to succeed.

Inversely, Marlin achieves his ultimate goal by sacrificing his normal life to find his son. Moreover, they accomplish this journey with varying motives, as Marlin relies on Nemo for his happiness. In summary, Gardner and Marlin made their goals possible by continuously pushing through adversity set in front

of them, an underrated characteristic in society today. With this in mind, both of these characters knew what it would take to truly accomplish their goals, finding happiness in their journey and resiliently tackling everything put in front of them. In all, I would prefer to watch Finding Nemo due to its witty humor and fun humor without the film.

Chris Gardner (Will Smith) and his son Christopher (Jaden Smith) joking on the train (Chahal, Gurbaksh.

Train ).

Advice Column Should I prioritize success over happiness? No. Unfortunately many people do not realize the issue with sacrificing their happiness for success, because in the end it will simply slow you down. In my opinion, success comes from the ability to accomplish your goals while maintaining a state of happiness. Although, sacrificing happiness for short periods of time becomes necessary, but if you see yourself unhappy for too long, accomplishments must take the backseat as happiness takes priority over nearly everything in life. In many scenarios, even if you achieve something without happiness, chances are you’re going stay unhappy even when you accomplish your goal. Another issue occurs when people start believing that success or money can buy happiness. Money can only satisfy materialistic needs, and not the genuine happiness that humans need. Unfortunately, many people overlook the value of true happiness as it plays an essential role in not only success, but also life in general. This scenario occurs around the world very often, as very wealthy people lack true happiness. From this, they often experience depression and a lack of appreciation for their money (Why The Super). Conversely, many people living in average socioeconomic situations manage to be happy. In the end, success can not be accomplished without happiness, therefore making it a principle value all people should prioritize in their lives. How do I make sure I am happy while I am trying to accomplish something? While working to accomplish something, it should not feel like a burden or obligation. I think this vividly indicates the happiness in one’s work. If your work happens to feel like some burden or nagging obligation, then you’re not happy with it and it will not lead you to success. If you're truly happy trying to accomplish your goals, you should want to do it and it should not feel like a burden. In the words of the famous philosopher, Alan Watts, “If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you'll spend your life completely wasting your time,” (Alan Watts Quotes). Watts means that accomplishments are just a part of success, and without true happiness with a greed for money, you will struggle to find true happiness therefore lacking success. Many people make the fatal mistake of compromising their happiness for success, but in reality it only drifts them further away from what they are trying to achieve. Moreover, people will then relate success to

not compromising happiness, continually sacrificing happiness for achieving their goals. In the end, the only way to truly be successful is to love what you are doing with your life and e ectively accomplish your goals. Without the even balance of happiness and accomplishments, success can not be legitimately achieved.

Adversity in My Life I have faced many forms of adversity in my life and during those tough times I have gained a priceless understanding on what it takes to succeed. Success has never come easy for me, as I struggled academically in my early years due to a series of lazy habits. My move to Australia did not help, as my academic slump continued as I attempted to fit in to a completely foreign culture. My parents and teachers saw the potential in my academic career, but I wasted it with an addiction for video games and a habit of avoiding school work like the plague. As I began to settle in, the seemingly low academic benchmarks in Australia’s local school system didn’t help anything, as I grew oblivious to my lack of achievement. I did not figure this out until I attended a private school in my last year there, where I noticed that I constantly fell behind. Although I noticed it, I made no substantial e ort to actually improve it. Eventually, When I moved back to Chagrin, I carried the same lackadaisical mentality I had for the first five weeks into the Intermediate School, where l received terrible grades and reports from teachers. I simply did not understand the importance of putting any e ort into school. This remained the same until my math teacher, Ms. Mitchell, dragged me and my parents into a meeting with the guidance counsellor. Thankfully, she realized that I didn’t take school as seriously as I should have, and made countless e orts to make sure I got on track. I eventually began to realize what horrible e ort I had been putting into my school work. Over the next year or two, I focused on becoming a better student. Small things like taking extra notes, spending a little bit more time studying and doing homework made a remarkable di erence. With this, I managed to bring my grades up from down under in the following semesters. This understanding has created a long lasting e ect on my lifestyle and has changed me for the better. With this experience, I have learned a couple key factors in achieving success. Firstly, I saw the importance of adversity, as this became a prime motivator that lead me to success. As I realized the awaiting failure I had created, I began working very hard to rise up and overcome this adversity. Secondly, I learned about the role happiness plays in success, finding that success can not be attained without happiness. Luckily for me, the extra studying and note taking seemed natural to the point where I did not mind it. Over the years, it

became easy for me to maintain my happiness while striving for success. The factors of adversity and happiness have played a massive role in my ability to be a successful student, and has e ectively transferred into other facets of my life.

(Kniskern, Meg. Varsity)

Works Cited “Alan Watts Quotes.” Goodreads , www.goodreads.com/quotes/606089­if­you­say­that­getting­the­money­is­the­most.

“Bill Gates Biography.” Biography , www.biography.com/people/bill­gates­9307520.

Chahal, Gurbaksh. Train Ride . Digital file.

Finding Nemo . Directed by Andrew Stanton, 2003.

Harnik, Andrew. Bill and Melinda Gates . Digital file.

“J.K. Rowlings Magical Success Despite Adversity.” tkaplan , tkaplan.com/j­k­rowlings­magical­success­despite­adversity/.

J.K. Rowling With Harry Potter Cast . Digital file.

Kniskern, Meg. Varsity Lacrosse 2018 . Digital file.

“Out of Adversity Comes Opportunity” . Digital file.

The Pursuit of Happyness . Directed by Gabriele Muccino, 2006.

“Why The Super­Successful Get Depressed.” Forbes , www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/01/26/why­the­super­successful­get­depressed/#30ffa71f3850.