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Analysis Of Professor Wiseman's 'You Make Your Own Luck'

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Reading passage 1 You Make Your Own Luck Some individuals seem to have an incomprehensible abundance of good fortune. In matters of love they are successful, in their careers also, in their finances, and in leading happy and meaningful lives. Yet these kinds of people don’t seem to work specifically hard, nor they are intelligent and have other gifts. It is obvious that there are also the natural opposites of the super fortunate; despite of their laborious nature and their talents some people fail repeatedly. As it is true with so many human problems, people usually deal with this difficult-to-quantify inequality by giving it a name-“luck”- and then disclaiming any responsibility for how much of it they are apportioned. It is …show more content…

The lucky individuals were paying more attention to their surroundings, which made them more likely to notice the message in the newspaper. During his long study on the nature of luck, he has found that “lucky” individuals usually posses many intersecting qualities, including extroverted personalities, a lack of anxiety, open-mindedness, and optimism. Each of these plays an important role in one’s luck production. The essence of luck is opportunity, so it follows that the more opportunities one encounters and the more receptive one is to those opportunities, the “luckier” one is. Wiseman has found that lucky people smile twice as often as others, and engage in more eye contact than unlucky people do. Such outgoing, extroverted behavior exposes a person to more opportunities due to the increases social interaction. Similarly, open-mindedness allows one to encounter a greater number of unique prospects, and makes one more apt to embrace new opportunities. Professor Wiseman has outlined four principles to help one increase their good

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The first concept is lucky opportunities. In the book Outliers Gladwell explains how many successful people receive luckey opportunities to make people successful in the future. He elaborates on how people who are successful normally did not get there on their own and explains how being at the right place at the right time can be the difference between success and failure. Sergey Brin had many opportunities that led him to becoming a billionaire. When Brin attended college at Stanford university where he met Larry Page and they became close friends.

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In the general perspective, a majority of people have come to believe that success derives within the personality and motives of the individual. In contrast, Malcolm Gladwell alleges in his bestselling non-fiction book Outliers that success is spawned by god-given advantages and opportunities that may not be welcomed to others by fate. Gladwell presents us with crucial evidence, such as the individual’s date of birth, the 10,000 hour rule, and their IQ, which has been proved to significantly increase their chances of success. Gladwell’s theory of success is credible and alluring because it belittles anyone who has not fallen into a blessed lifestyle. He admires those who have been born with opportunities clouding their life.

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Sure, these people may work hard enough and assert themselves, but in order to shape the world to their desires, they must be presented the opportunity which is where the third aspect of success, luck, comes in. When the opportunity presents itself, nearly every hard-working, strong-minded person would seize the chance to become successful or powerful. This is the case with most people mentioned by Gladwell. People like Bill Gates, Bill Joy, The Borgenichts, Korean Air pilots, and the kids that attend KIPP Academy. Bill Gates and Bill Joy both worked on computers for years, oftentimes after hours, because they were passionate and hardworking.

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I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives. " This quote explains the trouble he was having with teaching young Indians how to read and write. This essay could set an example for anyone trying to accomplish something in life be it small or catastrophic. In this essay he also uses his title and a story about a comic book to explain his struggle in breaking down doors and opening new avenues for young aspired Indians.

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In society, there is a common misconception that success simply arises from a combination of an individual's innate talent and drive to acquire success. However, in the book Outliers-The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, Gladwell introduces a new and different perspective of the foundation of success, and proposes that other factors contribute and can even determine the likelihood of someone succeeding. Aspects such as hidden advantages, upbringing, timing, and cultural legacies play a significant role in how well one will do in this world. Society's outliers are the individuals who, because of their chance opportunities, have cultivated their inner talents and abilities to become successful. Hidden advantages play a tremendous role in

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In Inequality and (Un)Happiness in America by Arthur Brooks the author talks about how when we feel successful in what we do, whether it be in a job or not, it can cause us to feel happier. This probably affected my happiness when I was in track because after you run a few miles you feel accomplished in what you have done. The author then goes on to say that if you feel like a failure you are more likely to be unhappy than those who feel successful (392). The reading says that if you earn something you will feel proud that you earned it and didn 't have it just handed to you. Money doesn 't bring happiness success does.

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Though natural talent, hard work, and intelligence are contributors to success, chance plays a huge role. In my personal experience, it is often who is known rather than what is known. For example, thousands of hours can be spent perfecting a craft or career, but in most cases, you still need to know someone, or be plain lucky to get the job. Personally, I believe it is a combination of dedication, hard work, natural talent, and most importantly, luck, that creates immensely successful individuals.

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Who has ever eluded the consequences for doing something wrong as a child, and thought, Wow, I’m so lucky I didn’t get caught? Or how about nearly breaking something while doing something thoughtless with friends that would’ve gotten them in trouble and thinking, We are really lucky that didn’t happen? Everyone has done something that they have evaded some sort of punishment and thought that karma was on their side that day. These are what one may call, “good luck.” But what about, “bad luck,” when you no longer have any?

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Vladek almost got caught taking goods to another store by the Nazi (pg. 149). Vladek pretended that he was taking goods to his own store. He got escorted there and they didn’t check his papers. He was lucky the Nazi weren’t suspicious or he could have been hung for illegally transporting goods. This time he created luck because he was convincing and he didn’t run

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I will be discussing which areas in this book outline my argument of there is no such thing as long term luck. Let 's start out by specifying what an Outlier is. An outlier is a person with an above average ability for intelligence

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Nagel states, “Whether we succeed or fail…depends to some extent on factors beyond our control” (Nagel 1). The way things turn out cannot merely influence how good or bad we are, but whether or not we are good in the first place. The way we are, the circumstances we face, and the way things turn out is due to luck and we cannot be held responsible. So what is one left to be responsible for?

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(Lawrence, 1933, p. 310). When you are lucky, this does not mean that people are fortunate economically. The chance of luck is to let things flow without imposing control over them and the situation. In The Rocking-Horse Winner, Paul 's mother gives the impression that to believe in luck is to have money in abundance, and when you do not have money, it is because you do not have

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Think of success like watching a tree grow the branches split into different paths one can take each split is another opportunity to prosper and grow beautiful leaves like trophies. An uncommon belief is that the process of becoming successful is like a tree branch, if one starts off strong, more paths appear growing from the sturdy branch, and achieving goals lead to leaves growing to show wealth. “It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success,” (Gladwell 30). Author of nonfiction book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell, agrees with this uncommon belief, in his book he argues that success does not come from intelligence or passion

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Though, there are many defining moments in my life that have shaped the person I have become. One good example would be my deciding to switch schools at the end of sixth grade, thus expanding the range of people I knew, as well as severely altering my outlook on my hometown. The beginner’s luck I’ve had in my life has been slim, and I find that I have always had to work very hard to become better at things, regardless of the fact that the universe was supposedly trying to help me, though I do know that I have always been good at reading. I remember figuring out how to read before the time I was three, first beginning with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, then moving on to the entirety of the Harry Potter Series. I’m not sure if this fully would count as “luck” perse, though I am very grateful to have learned how to read at the time I did.

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Another example is if they want to be a singer, but that might not be everyones strong suit. As a result they practice a lot and this practice leads to chances, chances open opportunities to become better. In the book "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time", Christopher is faced with a lot of obstacles (due to his autism), such as the color yellow, the train station, and loud noises. However, he almost always finds a way to overcome it. The book is written in the point of view of a boy with autism who faces a lot of obstacles but he never gives up and he always overcomes them despite how hard it may be.

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