103 In your opinion, what is the most important characteristic (for example, honesty, intelligence,

a sense of humor) that a person can have to be successful in life?

In order to achieve success in life, a person must acquire many essential qualities, among which
are confidence, respect, honesty, to name just a few. In my opinion, however, the single most
critical quality would be optimism.

To lay a foundation for further discussion, I would like to define success in the first place. In my
mindset, success in life is not measured by the thickness of the bucks you have, nor the applause
you have received. Instead, it’s all about how you feel about yourself. If a person tries hard to live
his life to the fullest, whether he is a farmer or an entrepreneur, he has achieved success in my
opinion. Then we’ll discuss about the importance of optimism in our life.

First, no one’s life is always easy and smooth from his childhood. Every one of us faces obstacles
and failures at one time or another. What really matters is to get back on our feet and go on with
our dreams. Well, optimism then shows its potential. It’s the best tool to help us regain our
confidence and to stick with our lives. A host of famous words have been said on the topic
“optimism”. I’ll simply choose my favorite: I’m a slow walker, but I never walk backwards. The
sentence from Abraham Lincoln best illustrates the critical role optimism plays in our lives.

Also, vast research has shown that optimism, which probably leads to better moods, helps a person
to stay healthy in a variety of aspects. Laughing, for example, helps reduce blood pressure, heart
disease, and of course fight off depression. Always staying positive and try to look on the bright
side of things contribute to more laughter. In another sense, we are staying optimistic, which can
really improve our health.

To sum up, if asked to choose the most important quality to achieve success (in my definition), I
would definitely choose optimism, which helps us stay positive and directs us towards a better and
healthier future.