Advice about success?

College Confidential Community
1

<p>This is completely off the record, but I’m looking for inspiration… I guess it’s natural because I’m a procrastinating senior. But I feel like I really need to read a book, article or personal story about success. I currently have almost no academic motivation, just a big ambition to excel at sports. And I don’t really have any emotional support from anybody, so I’m by myself in trying to get my @55 back on track. Sounds like a ■■■■■, but it’s really harder than it sounds. At my pace, I won’t be able to transfer out of my state college and go somewhere cool.</p>

<p>Any suggestions</p>

<p>P.S. - this… somewhat of a depression… is not caused by rejection letters, FYI. I’m just receiving a lot of crap that I don’t deserve right now</p>

2

<p>Here’s a secret. There’s no such thing as magic switch or trick you can learn to be successful. I use to think that there was. For instance, for many here, it’s “if only I got into an elite school, then I would be successful.” Everything requires hard work and determination. You don’t make big steps. You make a series of little steps to get somewhere. While so many things seem trivial, you can’t ignore them. If you want to excel at sports, you’re going to have to practice a lot. Even though some people seem like they’re born to win; in reality, they have to work really hard. Take Tiger Woods for example. </p>

<p>Essentially, you can’t have an attitude that you’re entitled to success. You need to realize that success takes a lot of work.</p>

3

<p>I’m looking for motivation. That’s all I need. As long as I can live up to my potential, I don’t care if I won’t get an ivy league education and make 200k/yr someday.</p>

4

<p>Read some books by Dale Carnegie, I’ve heard people say those are good at motivating and helping people succeed. Also search youtube for “ted tony robbins”, I think he gave a motivational speech at the TED conference that they uploaded that was supposedly good.</p>

5

<p>Give yourself a goal that you think is incredibly out of reach; play professional sports, go to ivy league for grad school (when it counts), or whatever.</p>

<p>Then do it.</p>

6

<p>which sport?</p>

7

<p>I play pretty much all sports.</p>

<p>anymore input?</p>

8

<p>If you’re looking for primarily academic, watch the movie “The History Boys.” If you take the time to understand it, it has quite a few amazing lines about the purpose of education, the difference between thinking and learning, how to go about academia, etc.
It’s kind of dense a little, really not too much “action”; it’s more of a thinking movie, but I think that’s what you’d like.
Don’t be put off by the premise of its being a bunch of kids trying to get into Oxford, it’s quite good.</p>

<p>Inspirational, motivational, it’s a good push, upon reflecting on its most important lines and concepts. It has lifted me out of my senior slide (senioritis).</p>

9

<p>It’s hard to give an advice on how to become successful - that’s the point, you create your own game, and achieve. I agree about The History Boys movie. Here are some quotes that might help you:</p>

<p>“Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling”</p>

<p>“Who the hell do you think you are? Are you an athlete? Because if you are, then you know what it means to want to be better, to want to be the best. And if you are, then you understand it’s not enough to want to be the best. You can’t just sit around all day and BS about how much you want it. Show me how much you want it. Stop just “thinking about it” and “wondering about it” and “hoping for it” and actually go out there and get it. Dare to do what it takes to be the best. And then, whether you win, lose, or collapse on the finish line, at least you’ll know exactly who you are.”</p>

<p>“There are clubs you can’t get into. Neighborhoods you can’t get into. But the roads are always open."</p>

<p>“Too often we are scared. Scared of what we might not be able to do. Scared of what people might think if we tried. We let fears stand in the way of our hopes. We say no when we want to say yes. We sit quietly when we want to scream. And we shout with the others, when we should keep our mouths shut. Why? After all, we do only go around once. There’s really no time to be afraid; you have nothing to lose and everything, everything, everything to gain. JUST DO IT.”</p>

<p>“The bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacle. The bigger the obstacle, the bigger the achievement. So blame the failure not on obstacles but on the absence of relentless effort”</p>

<p>“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”</p>

<p>“Mastery Over Doubt - Nothing paramount has ever been achieved except by those who dared to believe in something inside them was superior to circumstance.”</p>

<p>“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity… The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”</p>

<p>“I’ll never look back with regret. I will always believe in the ideal.
I hope to be remembered, not recalled. And I hope to make a difference.”</p>

<pre><code>All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you are not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you are the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no’s become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES.
</code></pre>