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Cesiah Prado
Professor Averill
English 115
5 December 2014
We Can All Have a Piece of Success

Often times we tend to believe that success is achieved once a person has a career that
brings in money and other luxuries. We think that the only reason why certain people are
successful in life is because they are extremely smart or had advantages in life that made success
more attainable. A person does not have to be a genius to be successful. They can come from
nothing and rise to have everything. It all depends if they are willing to work hard for it. Success
is not an item that can be handed to a person and will not come easy when trying to achieve it. It
is something you earn with sweat and tears and when you achieve it, your story could be admired
for the sacrifices and struggles you encountered. Success is a reward that can be obtained if a
person has the desire to work hard for it, it is not only a privilege given to those with better
advantages in life.
In society, the definition of success can be interpreted in various ways because each
individual has different ideals and values. However, in the end we can all agree that being
successful means we've accomplished a goal we set for ourselves that makes us happy. In his
book "Outliers: The Story of Success", Malcolm Gladwell utilizes the stories of several people to
demonstrate how they have reached success. One of his examples is the story of Joe Flom. Joe
Flom's story starts off with his Jewish immigrant parent's decision to come to New York. Flom
grew up in a poor immigrant world where he had nothing. All the disadvantages that one would
assume that could not allow him to ever be successful were in fact advantages that brought him

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to reach success. Gladwell also introduces the stories of Alexander Bickel and Maurice Janklow,
Jewish men with a similar background to Flom. So similar, that they all became successful
lawyers. Gladwell outlines their struggles and lifestyle to the reader in hopes to show how
difficult it was for them to come from nothing and rise to become important wealthy people. He
also uses Louise Farkas' investigation which outlined the family trees of Jewish families from the
1930s to explain why Flom, Janklow, and Bickel became successful. Her research showed that
people with Jewish immigrant parents that came from poor backgrounds were wealthy because
they were more likely to have determination and work hard. Jewish lawyers and doctors did not
become professionals in spite of their humble origins. They became professionals because of
their backgrounds.(Gladwell 153).
One of the examples that Gladwell uses that several college students can relate to is the
"10,000 hour rule". The 10,000 hour rule means that if a person ever wants to be an expert at
anything they must spend 10,000 hours perfecting it. With this example, Gladwell uses the story
of Bill Joy. Bill Joy is a computer programmer that helped write the computer language Java as
well as most of the software that is used to connect computers to the internet. Among many
computer programmers, Joy is seen as someone extremely talented for his ability that goes far
beyond the average because he used the "10,000 hour rule. From a very young age he was
fascinated by computers and began to dabble with computer programming. His hard work and
hours he spent working with computers gave him the chance to be successful in a job he loves.
As freshman college students, most people do not know what they want to do. This is the
opportunity to figure that out. Some people get discouraged after they hear Joy's story because
they feel they have already wasted time. However, a person can start on the 10,000 hour rule in
college as well. It begins when you spend hours working on assignments or studying for exams.

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Without knowing it, you're already putting in hours to one day being successful in a job you love
like Bill Joy. Again, success comes down to working hard because spending 10,000 hours will
not guarantee you success if you did not take it serious. We cannot expect to receive an A in a
class where we did not put in any effort and if we continue on that path we will certainly not
receive a degree within four years.
Some people in our society believe that the doctors, lawyers, or anyone else who we see
that has a degree and a career is successful because they come from rich and important
families. Alison Grisworld, a business and economics reporter for Slate Magazine, refers to those
advantages as the birth lottery. Grisworld explains that the birth lottery is the basic idea that
some people are born to families that are better off, better educated, and better situated (par. 2).
Her observation shows that if parents have an excellent income and provide the best lifestyle
possible, their children will be those successful doctors and lawyers we encounter. While it is
true that certain individuals have the key to the door of their success, this does not account for
those who are working hard to obtain the key that will open the door to their success. Society
needs to break out of that mentality and learn that a person with a background of low income
who lived in a poor neighborhood with their single mother could also be the lawyer that defends
them in the court room or the doctor who does everything possible to save their life. After all,
the circumstances of ones birth are irrelevant, it is what you do with the gift of life that
determines who you are (Takeshi Shudo).
When discussing success we remember the stories we were told as kids about certain
individuals. The story of Teresa Torres is also one to be admired. Teresa was born in the poor
town of Usulutn in El Salvador. She grew up in a home of domestic violence and as a little girl
she witnessed her older brothers get murdered during the civil war. At the age of twelve her

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father abandoned his family and she became the head of the household. She left her home that
same year to work as a maid to provide for her mother and siblings. She walked miles in fear to
get to work, holding a white flag that represented peace to let both armies know she was not with
either side. The war continued and at the age of 16 she bought her mother a house. Teresa was
told that for a woman her age and during the war she had reached success, but she knew they
were wrong. As far back as she could remember, Teresa dreamed of being a nurse and at the age
of 18 she left to Mexico to accomplish that dream. Teresa continued to work as a maid in order
to still provide for her family and pay for her studies. She was exhausted, but after 3 years of
hard work and determination she accomplished her dream of being a nurse. Teresa found success
despite she came from nothing. She didnt settle for what society believed was good for her. It is
a story I admire because it shows that with all the negativity in a persons life or even their
gender, success can still be attainable. It is the story that for years has motivated me to be a
successful trauma surgeon, despite my very own disadvantages and limitations. It is a story that
has taught me that although I am a woman, I can be successful in a field of medicine that is
dominated by men. It is also a story I admire because it is the story of my mother.
Before hearing the story of my mother I believed that success was being wealthy, living
in Beverly Hills, and mingling with famous or important people. It was not until I was eight
years old that I heard my mothers story and had a change of mind set. I learned at a young age
that anyone, no matter where they came from, could find success if they just worked hard. The
strive for success was planted in me and grew stronger each day. In just my short life time I have
faced hard times that shaped me into the person I am and have helped me find success just like
my mother. At the age of eleven I lost my father due to a brain hemorrhage, my grandfather to
pneumonia, and my grandmother to breast cancer; all in the same year. The following year I

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received the news that my mother had breast cancer as well. Within that time frame I was dealing
with depression and verbal and physical abuse from my peers at school. I had given up in life
and I was sure that I would never find the success that my mother did in Mexico and El Salvador.
My experience taught me that all the negativity in your life can help you rise above, it can
be the motivation you need to accomplish your goals and be truly happy. After a few months of
treatment my mother was cured and although the loss of my loved ones was unbearable, it was
what pushed me every day to be closer to my dreams. I worked day and night for countless hours
and tried over and over again until I saw results that made me happy. I did not settle for the life
that society had chosen for me. I did not want to be a ratio for teen pregnancy within the
Hispanic community. Despite the doubt people had in me I never quit. Their negativity only
made me more ambitious to achieve success. Today, I am the first person in my family to
graduate from high school with honors, I am the first to go to a university, and will be the first
doctor in my family. I have found success and most importantly success that makes me happy. I
would have never gotten this far if I did not work hard, had determination, or was motivated. I
know for a fact that I will continue to find success and eventually accomplish my dreams like my
mother.
We should not give up on the idea of success because we feel we dont have certain
advantages because our own disadvantages can be the thing that brings us to accomplish success
for ourselves. We do not have to be geniuses with IQs of 159 either. At the end of the day it all
comes down to hard work and determination. Without those two no one will ever be successful.
Success is not something that is served to you on a silver platter. It is something you must go out
and do. Gladwell used these stories not to discourage a person, but to make them realize of the
things we are capable of doing if we put in work. Even though we may be tired and exhausted

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from having to try over and over again, you need to search within you, you [have to] find that
inner strength and just pull [it] out of you and get that motivation to not give up and not be a
quitter, no matter how bad you [want to] just fall flat on your face and collapse (Eminem line 35). Although some people are born into advantages that make reaching success easier it does not
mean that the rest of us dont have a chance at a taste of what success is.

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Annotated Bibliography
Gladwell, Malcolm. "Chapter 2: The 10,000-Hour Rule." Outliers: The Story of Success. New
York: Back Bay Book / Little, Brown Company, 2008. 35-68. Print. In this chapter of
Gladwell's book, he discusses the "10,000 hour rule". This rule demonstrates a persons
ability to perfect a subject or talent if they spend 10,000 hours worth of work on it. I will
be using this chapter to show that if we put in hard work and are determined at something
we can be successful at it. This chapter will help me demonstrate that success is all about
working hard for something that you want.
Gladwell, Malcolm. "Chapter 5: The Three Lessons of Joe Flom." Outliers: The Story of
Success. New York: Back Bay Book /Little, Brown Company, 2008. 116-58. Print. This
chapter of Gladwell's book, he discusses how your parent's background can have an
impact on your success. This chapter focuses on Joe Flom's, a Jewish lawyer, journey to
success. It goes in depth on everything he went through up to the point where he found
success. I will be using this chapter to show how your parent's previous life can be used
as motivation to have a better life and reach success.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Chapter 9: Maritas Bargain. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York:
Back Bay Book/Little, Brown Company, 2008. 250-69. Print. In this Chapter of
Gladwells book, he discusses how having a specific education can help a person with
obtaining success. He shows how if we have a specific foundation of education we have a
better opportunity of learning more, making success a lot more attainable. I will be using
this chapter for both my argument and counterargument. In my counterargument it will
show how people believe that we have to go to prestigious schools to get further in life.

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In my argument it will show that success is developed through a persons desire for
success not because of where they chose to study.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Epilogue: A Jamaican Story. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York:
Back Bay Book/Little, Brown Company, 2008. 270-85. Print. The Epilogue in Gladwells
book focuses on the story of his mother and her journey to success. He talks about her
struggles to work hard for a better life and how she was still not respected because of her
appearance, despite that she was an educated woman. Her background history was used
as a tool of motivation for Gladwell. I will be using his epilogue as a reference to speak
about my mothers journey towards success, being that her story has also motivated me.
This will help me to bring my personal point of view on success and will make my
viewpoint clearer as to why I believe what success is to me.
Griswold, Alison. "Here's The Startling Degree To Which Your Parents Determine Your
Success." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 24 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.businessinsider.com/parents-determine-child-success-income-inequality2014-1>. This article discusses the affects a parent has on whether their child will be
successful or not. It shows that if children have certain advantages they have a higher
chance of being successful in life. I will be using this website article for my
counterargument to show why people think that certain people have found success.