The American Dream: How Are Individuals Successful?

How are individuals successful? Does practice make perfect? Does hard work beat talent? Do thousands of hours need to be spent practicing to be great? Where does success come from? Does success derive from hard work, talent, or is it luck? The American Dream states that anyone can be successful through talent and perseverance. Is talent the only reason for success though? No, there are numerous factors that lead to success. For instance, positive adult mentors can give a hand to help an individual. Indeed, one has to work for achievements, but having guidance is beneficial. In addition, the environment one lives in is influential on their success because there can either be a vast amount of opportunities or just a few. People are blind to luck and unaware of psychological biases they hold. For example, attribution bias, which is when people tend to see environmental circumstances creating their own failures. For one to succeed they must help themselves and move to an environment where there are more opportunities. People need to realize the myth that only the deserving receive success, is not true. Truly, sometimes success comes from being in the right place at the right time. (Suttie)

This practice may be in vain, because practice is not the only reason for people to obtain the ability to be great at something. Practice is partially accountable for success. The rest can be towards factors like intelligence and/or innate ability. One can practice repeatedly, but there is no guarantee that one will be the best. Improvement is the only thing that is guaranteed from practice. Legends are “natural” athletes, almost meaning they were born to be great. As if it was in their blood, and it was their