Stubbornness: Fatal Flaw Or Key To Success? In the sixth grade, an incident caused my fatal flaw to be revealed. On that day, my teacher and I had a disagreement, which led to me being held after class for the first time in my life. She sat me down at a desk and started to scold me for mouthing off to her in front of the whole class. Throughout her lecture, she made sure to remind me that I was too stubborn for my own good. For several years after this event, if someone called me stubborn, I would take it as an insult. According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, “Stubborn is a personality trait that means to perform or carry on in an unyielding, obstinate, or persistent manner,” (“Stubborn”). Even though this word haunted me for several …show more content…
Stubbornness can also be defined as someone who doesn’t give up easily. That isn’t a bad quality to have in life. For example, I will be required to take many intricate classes in college. In order to succeed, I will need to be determined and resilient if I want to pass these crucial classes. Resilience and determination are both synonyms that showcase stubbornness in a positive light. Because I am stubborn, I blessed with the ability to be able to persevere through difficult times. Rather than being a fatal flaw, stubbornness has helped lead some people to greatness. For example, Steve Jobs believed that computers should become the next big household technology. When he pitched the idea to investors, they laughed at him. Although he was humiliated, Jobs didn't give up on his idea. Instead, he channeled his stubbornness into creating his own company with some of his friends. That company is today one of the largest computer companies in the world. Stubbornness can be the key to success, if it is used in a positive …show more content…
Being stubborn has caused many people, including myself, to make bad choices. For example, Douglas MacArthur's stubbornness led him to be relieved of his duties during the Korean War. During the middle of the Korean War, MacArthur and his army had pushed the North Koreans out of South Korea, but he wanted to make the North Koreans pay. He asked President Truman to allow his army to invade North Korea and try to force them to be democratic. Truman granted him permission, but was worried about China viewing the attack on North Korea as a way to spread democracy into Asia. MacArthur assured President Truman that the Chinese wouldn’t join the war and proceeded to move his army into North Korea. In December 1950, China sent their troops into North Korea to attack MacArthur's army. Refusing to be defeated, General MacArthur asked the President if he could bomb the Chinese till they retreated, but President Truman, who was fed up with MacArthur and his stubbornness, denied his request and relieved him of his duties. Douglas MacArthur is one of the many examples of how stubbornness can lead to
Important goals about life have changed significantly suggests Kohn. With goals comes the ability to be persistent, the author mentions. He describes that persistence is one characteristic among many that could become valuable when wanting to reach a goal,
“ I am a slow walker but I never walk back.” Sometimes it takes time but you always want to get to the end. Even if things get in your way or something is hard, you never give up and you keep pushing forward. In my opinion, perseverance is an excessively essential trait to have in the case of survival. Shackleton needed to get out of the Ice to survive, he canoed for a severely long amount of time. It was very tiring and even so Shackleton didn’t give up. In the book Hatchet Brian needed a fire to survive. He kept trying but nothing seemed to be working, he never gave up and he just kept going.
Our enemy was the Japanese, but when the war ended, it also had another story to it, and it was Louie, a survivor of the American army, and a survivor from a prisoner of war camp. Louie’s life was that he was an athlete in his childhood, and the one who made Louie into an athlete was Pete, his big brother in the family, which his brother was the one that encouraged Louie the most. When Louie was older, he joined the army, and when he joined, he was still running and practiced like an athlete. When Louie was growing up, he kept on changing his personalities, and was growing new traits as he learned from others, and had joy with loved ones too. In the book Unbroken, the author Laura Hillenbrand described Louie as
The waves crashed against the sandy beach of Crusty. Crusty was an island on the northside of ireland that rested quietly in the Celtic Sea. Crusty was quite known by the surrounding masses of land that held tribes of people. All of the different villages knew about crusty, from every angle you could see the big beautiful island and the lush forest that blanketed it. You could ask anyone about it and they’d all tell different stories of the island, each of the stories made their way down bloodlines from great, great grandparents to children and grandchildren. The stories all have their own twist on them that keep them from being exactly alike. But they all have one very important detail in common, crusty the island used to be host to one of
Everyone has gone through a tough time in their life, but it’s your decision whether to push through it, or take the easy way out. The dictionary defines determination as having reached a decision or firmly resolved. Some synonyms of determination are “bound”, “firm”, “intent”, “set”. Antonyms for determination include, “hesitant”, “indecisive”, “wavering”, “irresolute”. Determination is an important trait to have because the lack of this can cause laziness or the wanting to give up. There are various people who have faced hardships in their life, and wanted to give up. For example, when someone becomes disabled or is disabled. The people who endure a disability don’t let that be an excuse to get out of everything, but use determination to
Closely related to patience (as a key to success in dog training) is persistence. You won't be successful as a dog trainer if you give up too easily - that is, like where you illustrate a desired behavior to a dog, and then give up if the dog fails to pick it up immediately. The truth of the matter is that you have to illustrate a desire behavior to a dog several times, whilst using the necessary reinforcements, till the dog eventually comes to learn what is expected of him or
Every time my mother touches something she has to ask herself a simple question, is this item safe for me to lift? She is undergoing medical treatment and is not supposed to lift items over 5 pounds, or she could face serious consequences down the line, such as lymphedema. Throughout her hectic and busy day, she sometimes forgets to check if something is too heavy for her. It would be much easier if she wouldn’t have to worry about what is safe and what is not safe to carry.
In the novel The Golden Compass, it is proven that persistence is a great personality trait. This is proven first by the fact that Lyra wants to go to the north but is constantly being told no. She tries again and again until she is finally allowed to go. Secondly Lyra wants to learn about the alethiometer but there are over a thousand meanings. Later on in the book Lyra figures out these meanings because she never gave up. In the novel The Golden Compass there are a lot of powerful meanings and one that is clear is that never giving up builds confidence because people with confidence know they can overcome whatever challenges they may face.
In the book Rocket Boys, there were many themes throughout the book, such as coming of age, determination, dreams / goals, family relationships, and man vs. society. I think the most relevant theme of all was determination. Determination can be one of the best things for someone, but also one of the most dangerous things for a person to have. If someone is determined about something to happen, they can and will make it happen no matter the circumstance. This can become a bad thing if someone is determined for the wrong reason or is determined for something to happen to someone or have something bad happen. Determination is the amount of drive someone has to get something done. If someone is extremely determined to get something done or to have something happen,
Many people have something called dedication. Dedication is having a firm decision and being resolved in not to change anything to your goal. For instance, wanting to go through with the goal he or she set, dedicating their every move to that one certain goal. Another reason is having persistence anything that a person sets their mind to doing so they will do whatever it takes to reach that goal. Just as Langston Hughes is dedicated in his poem “Mother to Son”: “ Well, son, I’ll tell you:/ Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair./ It’s had tacks in it,/ And splinters,/ And boards torn up,/ And places with no carpet on the floor./ Bare.” (l. 1-7). He never gave up no matter how long he was in places like the bare floors, with tacks and splinters, and he still never gave up. Which means continuing firmly or obstinately in a cause, no matter how difficult or opposition they have. No matter how hard it is to reach the goal that was set, he or she push their self to finish what they have started. They also never give up just because they hit a dead end. He or she keeps going no matter what obstacles get in their way. Also, time has a big part in the goal they have set. Many people never want to go the full time that it takes to reach their goal. Such as, most people give up on trying to reach their goal after the first roadblock they encounter. Every reason that is listed above has
...akes a large amount of precise movements to get the fabric just right. The actual sewing piece is where the persistence comes in though. You have to get the seams and tension just right or you have to go back through and un-sew and re-sew over and over again. I had made the mistake of having my seams too large and not straight as well as having my tension wrong on my machine and I have had to un-sew and re-sew my fabric more times than just getting it correct the first time, but, if I wanted to complete my quilt I would have to just keep moving on, to persist. I can conclude that learning a new skill such as learning how to sew a quilt, does affect your patience and persistence by causing you to be patient and slow when cutting and causing you to go back through and look at the work that has already been done and if it is not done right then to try and try again.
Attitude is how someone determines to feel or think about a situation. This word is often used in a negative context. For example, a mother might tell her son to lose the attitude. However, does attitude only describe a frame of mind a person should not have? People today live in a time where everyone is losing their attitude awareness. However, the importance of attitude can be revealed in the pursuit of endeavors, the enhancement of character, and the encouragement of relationships.
I have showed determination countless times in the past. Ever since I was a little kid, I was taught to do my best at everything I do and finish everything I start. When I first started soccer, I would practice for at least one hour every night to improve my skills. There were some nights when I wasn’t feeling great, but I would still go outside to practice. I was determined to get better, and I knew the only way to do this was to practice. I was also determined to make great grades on all my tests throughout Elementary school. I would study my notes the day before a test, so that I would
Persistence. Persistence in the face of opposition. It is easy to be passionate when life and business is good. You will have the perfect mindset and attitude. However, what happens when the perfection stops and the hardships set in. Will you drive forward, with the same passion and commitment? The winners do. The successful entrepreneurs do. Persistence is the ingrained mindset of success. It truly does separate those that succeed from those that fail. Your persistence is what separates those that dream to achieve and those that achieve. Never give
Perhaps you think you are determined; but in arriving at that assessment, you may only be comparing yourself to you!