Blueprint to Success

Sophia Sanvictores
Ms. Younen
ENG2D1- 06
January 14th 2013
Blueprint to Success
A majority of successors all share something in common. They all have these personality traits that were able to get them to where they are today. The reason many people are not successful, is they lack these traits that are essential for success. These traits form a solid foundation for the blueprint of your success. What is the blueprint for success? The answer lies in these three words; wisdom, courage, and love.
Wisdom is a trait that we all must have. If we do not have wisdom, how can we expect to make the right decisions? If we fail to make the right decisions, we fail to open new doors. With wisdom, we are able to advise other people and create laneway to new opportunities. Wisdom can be demonstrated in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The main character, Atticus Finch, demonstrates wisdom when he is advising his daughter, Scout about her problems regarding her teacher. He says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,”(Lee, 30). This demonstrates wisdom because he is considering other people’s point of view. He is not so quick to judge, and thinks through his decisions before making them. There comes a time in our life where we fail to make good decisions. I knew I had truck loads of work to do one weekend, but I chose to leave everything last minute. When Sunday came around, I was crammed with work, I wasn’t able to attend a party, and I was stuck at home the entire day. This was a lack of wisdom on my part. I did not manage my time, and my priorities were not intact.
Success cannot come without having courage. With courage you are able to make a difference in this world. With courage you are able to stand up for what you want. With courage you can exemplify what is right. In the book Night, the main character, Eliezer Wiesel, often speaks of the tragedies of the Holocaust. He says, “One person of integrity can make a difference, a difference between life and death” (Wiesel, 120). Success requires bold moves that can sometimes be risky. If you do not have courage you are not able to make a difference. A friend of mine had many talents. She was asked to audition for the National Ballet of Canada. Although she was more than qualified to enter, she let fear take control and did not end up auditioning. She refused! By lacking the courage to audition, she set back her growth as a dancer. Courage is being able to grab opportunities when they arise.
Part of being successful is maintaining solid relationships with all the right people. How can you expect to keep these relationships, if you are not able to love? By having this trait of love you are able to understand and become more patient with others and yourself and become more stress free. This allows you to work better with other people. In the play, Merchant of Venice, a feud between the characters Antonio and Shylock, persisted for many years. When Antonio finally needed Shylock’s mercy, Shylock refused to love Antonio, his enemy, and in the end lost everything. Regarding Shylocks wealth the duke says, “For half thy wealth, it is Antonio; the other half comes to the general state” (Shakespeare, 4.1. 386- 87). By refusing to love another person, it only sets back your growth. Through Shylocks experience we see that hating another person definitely does not benefit you. My cousin had a huge conflict with a girl at her school. Both girls’ would go to extremes to make each other’s lives miserable. Their grades began to slip, and their friends became tired of their childish behavior. By neither of them turning the other cheek, their efforts of success were like a pen with no ink, useless.
In order for your blueprint to work successfully, make wiser decisions, make courageous change and make loving gestures. I challenge all of you today, to become wiser, to become more courageous, and to become more loving. If all of these are followed, you’ll be on your way to success.