Colvin What It Takes To Be Great Analysis

We often believe that success is created due to luck; however, this is frequently not true. In Geoffrey Colvin’s article, “What It Takes to Be Great,” he describes that greatness and success are not a natural gift and they can be reached by working hard and practicing. For example, he shows “In study of 20-year-old violinists by Ericsson and colleagues, the best group (judged by conservatory teachers) average 10,000 hours of deliberate practice over their lives; the next best average 7,500 hours; and the next, 5,000.” (Colvin 2). This example clearly illustrate the fact that most of the successful people spends many hours a day in practicing. In addition, he discusses the idea of the deliberate practice and how everybody can achieve his/her

For example, when I was fifteen my family and I moved from our country, Iraq, to live a better live in the united states. Learning a new language was the biggest challenge that I have faced in my life. I have faced so many difficulties during my high school years regarding to the language. Studying, getting involved in some school activities, and communicating with people were the hardest things to me because of the language. Later, I remember that I started to improve my skills by practicing seven to eight hours a day. I started to read more, write more, learn new vocabularies, and even practice speaking English more than before. Also, there were days that I stayed after school seeking for help. I pushed myself so hard to reach my goals and become a successful person. In looking back at this moment, I realize that my hard work and my persistence to learn a new language were worth it at the end. In addition, I was one of the honors graduate who has had 4.00 GPA. Just as Colvin's example of Tiger Woods shows, I too could achieve my goal of mastering the language and getting better at writing, reading, and communicating with people by my hard work and consistent