“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone.”
-Bill Cosby
Assignment: Is trying to please people a way to achieve success or a route to failure?
The key to success is commitment and hardwork; since trying to please others will indubitably enfeeble our diligence, we can affirm it hinders our chances to success. Persistent hard work to please others will, first, let us stray from the path leading to the achievement of our goals, and second, put us in an impass threatening our composure.
A first example to illustrate that bad influence is the case of a teenager. It is common to see parents trying to persuade their children into what they believe to be the “best” careers. What about those parents who incite their kids to go into medical school regardless to their preferences. Some obedient children will accept and, “pleasing their parents”, will follow medical studies. Then? A great number of those teenagers will fail because, while trying to do what others wanted, they forgot what they are born to do. Also, we can find bad influence when teenagers try to “socialize”. While in search for new friends, some adolescents believe that they must demonstrate their superiority and maturity to impress others and so get addicted to drugs or alcohol.
Moreover, let us examine the case of Dorian Gray, the main character in the novel The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Since beauty and youth are criteria to excellence in society, Dorian Gray sold his soul to please society. However, we find along the story that he is getting more and more immoral committing more and more crimes, he is in a deadlock from which he cannot escape.
Thus, to achieve success, one must stick to his believes, listen to the critics of others but never be “enslaved” by them.
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