Name: Nguyễn Dương Nhật Tiên
Class: BBus 7.5
Student ID: 3116 102 1110
ACADEMIC ENGLISH _ FINAL EXAMINATION
Mark Comments
TOPIC: The biggest difference between people who succeed at any difficult
undertaking and those who do not is not ability but persistence. Many
extremely talented people give up when obstacles arise. After all, who wants to
face failure? It is often said about highly successful people that they are just
ordinary individuals who kept on trying, who did not give up.
(Adapted from Tom Morris, True Success: A New Philosophy of Excellence)
Is persistence more important than ability in determining a person's success?
Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.
Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading,
studies, experience, or observations.
Every single day in our life, we all hear about the extraordinary achievements and
remarkable success of those people who had made significant change in the
development of technology, education and other fields in the world. It is common
knowledge that special ability, family income or luck is indispensable factor on
deciding the success. However, from my point of view, no matter who you are,
perseverance as well as passion is much more important than ability in determining
a person’s success.
To begin with, “perseverance is not a long race, it is many short races one after
the other,” (Walter Elliot). Not anyone of us has the congenital perseverance, but it
is formed through the progress of living and working in life. Perseverance means
the persistence in doing something in spite of difficulties, obstacles or delay when
we try to achieve the success. Also, perseverance is the attitude of discipline and
passion with the goal that we attain. It can be imagined that perseverance is the
door to “open” success when we overcame failures. Despite the hurdles, obstacles
and failures, the belief in ourselves and untiring perseverance will be the
motivation for us to move on.
Thomas Edison once claimed: “Genius is not inspired. Inspiration is
Perseverance” or “Genius is 1 percent, and 99 percents are perspiration”. It is
undeniable that ability is of great importance. Moreover, it becomes the substantial
contribution to our success. However, to some extent, special talent will be nothing
at all unless we continue on our work and desire for it. Strange as it may sound,
persistence is considered to be the progress when you climb a mountain. A healthy
body means that you have significant ability – an absolute requirement. Glorious
weather is luck. However, perseverance does not stand for anything, but it is our
effort, motivation and industriousness for us to accomplish the goal. Success is like
the top, and we are trying to climb step by step and do a lot of hard work to reach
it. What I want to emphasize is that just because we have all the good condition to
be successful does not mean we can accomplish it at the last minute. Success will
not come to those who just wait and do nothing, or even give up. It is for people
who always put a lot of their heart into the goal and keep moving on.
That feeling of success is so sweet and satisfied only when it is paid by strenuous
effort and persistence. However, while trying, some people have tendency to
giving up because they do not see that what they are trying gradually reaches the
success. In this term, Earnest Hemingway once talked about the Iceberg Theory in
his stories. It is a theory that just a small part of an iceberg (10%) is visible above
the water. However, the rest of it (90%) lying underneath the surface is invisible.
The true essence of this theory is that we can clearly see one’s success, but the
effort, failures and obstacles that are formed by time and persistence cannot be
seen. They are considered to be the invisible things that need sheer grit to take
form.
“Perseverance” reminds me of a film that I used to watch two years ago, and now it
still makes my heart sink and impresses me most: The pursuit of “happyness”. It is
a 2016 American biographical drama film based on a true story about a millionaire
stock broker - Chris Gardner. He and his son used to be homeless and be
abandoned by his wife. Chris tried to work with many jobs to earn a living. One
day, he heard about an exam of broker. Then he put a lot of effort into it and did it
very well. After that, he was hired by Dean Witter, one of the biggest American
stock brokerage at that time. With self-confidence and the love and trust of his son,
Chris Gardner rose above his obstacles to become a Wall Street legend. And now,
Mr. Gardner is known as a millionaire and a symbol of hard work. What I admire
most in this person is that no matter what tough times he was through, these
obstacles never let him down, even made him stronger and believed in life. The
film challenged my visions of family, business and society. On one hand, the film
reinforces the great American myth of the self-made man and equal opportunity.
Myths are not necessarily false simply for being myths. We can make some of
them true by choice, and our belief in this myth still helps make life great.
In conclusion, to be successful, despite the fact that ability and luck are necessary,
perseverance is a decisive factor of measuring how far we can go to reach success.
Without grit, we do not have enough courage to hold our own dream. Therefore,
people who want to face failures and overcome obstacles are highly successful
because they are just ordinary individuals who keep on trying, who do not give up.
REFERENCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg_Theory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pursuit_of_Happyness
https://www.quora.com/What-did-Thomas-Edison-mean-by-Genius-is-1-
inspiration-and-99-perspiration
http://www.hoclamgiau.vn/worldview/3231/Chi-co-su-kien-tri-moi-giup-ban-tien-
xa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grit_(personality_trait)
