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Esmaeel
Ali Esmaeel
April 30, 2013
Amanda Harrison
English 113B
Self Discipline is the Key to a Successful Life
Have you ever asked yourself what you have achieved to accomplish success in the past year? I believe that happiness exists when someone achieves one of their goals because the results of achieving the goal will satisfy them. What is success? According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers: Story of Success indicates that success is something that you earn after you accomplish a goal (Gladewell 4-5). Furthermore, success is not about winning or losing, but it is all about how courageous you can be in order to reach your goals. However, not everyone puts in a lot of effort in their work to achieve their dreams because they lack self-discipline or they do not set their goals appropriately. It is widely believed that people become successful once they are able to utilize their abilities by putting in a lot of effort. For those who do not utilize their abilities, it is usually very difficult to succeed. This is because success only results after hard work. Without hard work, success might not be the sought results. For instance, a student who works hard day and night will be successful in his/her studies. On the other hand, a student who is lazy and careless will most likely fail or do poorly in school. In the video “Why Are Some More People More Successful?” Brain Trace, businessman and author quotes a popular actress and a famous writer, Jane Fonda saying, “No pain, no gain.” (Tracy). This demonstrates if you do not put a lot of effort in the tasks you undertake; you should not expect to achieve great results. In other words, you would not become successful. The concept of success is slightly different from one person to another; however, all these concepts converge in the desire of self-satisfaction. Regardless of the ambitions that an individual has, self-discipline skill is required in order to complete achievement of success. Although some people use their families’ reputation in their respective society to succeed, success to me is to graduate from college and serve the community; by being self-disciplined a healthier and happier life will be achieved.
Self-discipline is one of the main factors of achieving success for example, graduating from college. Self-discipline could be defined as an “ability that make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not” says Elbert Hubbard, American philosopher and author (Tracy). Self-discipline is important in distinguishing failure from success. For example, I work out at the gym five times in the week, whether I feel it or not, liked or not in order to achieve my goal and success of being physically fit. Self-discipline is mandatory and it needs to be acquired for one to achieve goals and in addition, for one to become more successful in life. Self-discipline involves some type of effort because it requires a strong will to continue achieving the plan of goals. In addition, it is the key for a happier and healthier life because it helps to increase the determination of a person and in addition, when this is done, self-discipline will become stronger in the individual A survey done by University of Scranton indicates that 8% of the people who never succeed on their resolution each year did not have self-discipline (New Years Resolution Statistics). This demonstrates that these people did not use self-discipline to achieve their goals in order to be successful. On the same note, the same survey clarifies that 8% of the people have infrequent success. Infrequent success can be defined as people achieve success from time to time. In other words, some people have unstable rate of achieving success. This illustrates that these people did not only relied on luck, but they also did not use a crucial ability that if they used it to achieve their goals they would accomplish everything they dream of, which is self-disciplined.
Additionally, graduating from college then serving the community can be a great success because they can change the community to a different shape and secure their lives. There are some people used the self-disciplined to graduate from college and serve the community resulted in a great and happy life such as: Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Brian Tracy. Despite the fact that Steve Jobs did not complete his college education, he used the material that he learned from the classes he took before he dropped out from college to build the first Macintosh. Steve started his life in difficult circumstances. For example, he left his biological mother to live with new parents. Many years later, after he became a grown young man he did not have a house to sleep in, so he had to sleep on floor in a friend’s room. In addition, he slept hungry most of the time because he did not have any money to spend. Later on, he became more mature and he taught himself to acquire self-discipline and he used it to become the CEO of Apple Company and a successful person (Jobs). This example demonstrate that if you used self-discipline to graduate from college then serve the community, you will receive magnificent results like secure and happier life.
In my own case, I have been able to achieve success in the past. The achievement of this success has been through self-discipline and hard work. I have been able to maintain a high level of self-discipline in the educational activities that I have been engaging in. For example, each and every day I wake up very early in the morning to prepare for the lessons that I would undertake during the day. In other words, before attending any lessons or lectures, I always make sure that I have gained some concepts that are going to be taught. The course outline given in electrical engineering has been of great importance in helping me to achieve this level of self discipline. In addition, to self discipline, hard work has also been important in assisting me to achieve success. Every day I usually set aside some time, which I use to go through the notes given in class. I also reflect on the lectures and try to apply the concepts learnt from electrical engineering class. By doing this, I have been able to achieve two goals in the past. The first goal achieved is that I have been able to attain my academic targets. Even though electrical engineering is a difficult course, I have been able to attain my academic targets. The second goal I have achieved is that I have acquired vital knowledge that has been important in helping me to understand the concepts. In the Outliers, Ted Friedman, was suffering from financial crisis because he did not have any job and he had to pay his college tuition. He forced himself to acquire self-discipline because he determined to achieve his goals. His main goal was to graduate from university while having a degree in Law. As a result of his effort and self-discipline, he earned a Lawyer degree (135-137). This clarifies that effort and self discipline are very crucial in determining the success of an individual.
Through my past success, I will use it to achieve success in the present. I believe my self-discipline and hard work is very important in achieving success in the present which is to pass my examinations and in addition, gain requisite knowledge that is important in excelling in the field of electrical engineering. My bid to pass in the examinations will be facilitated by the knowledge that I have acquired through extensive reading and hard work. In order to achieve my success in the present, I also seek the services of a mentor, who is a successful electrical engineer. Through the mentorship of the electrical engineer, I am able to know the important things that one ought to know in order to excel in the field of electrical engineering. Therefore, I will be able to graduate from college with not only good academic qualifications but also with an idea of the most important things that an electrical engineer ought to know in order to excel in the field of electrical engineering. A better example of a man lived his almost his life poor and frustrated is Brian Tracy. Tracy had to work extremely hard when he was at age of 10 because his parents did not have money to spend on him. He worked daily in washing cars to save money to educate himself. He read numerous of economic and self-discipline books. As a result, he became a very successful businessman and he excelled his job (Tracy). This illustrates that self discipline coupled with determination will definitely lead to the success of an individual at all the levels.
My present success will be an important factor in determining my success in the future. My success on the future will highly depend on the behaviors and cultures that I learn to adopt. After completing and graduating from college convincingly, I will take another path of success. I will have accomplished educational success and now I will be after more success in my practice as an electrical engineer. My success as an electrical engineer will be to offer my knowledge and skills to help the society and in addition, to help the field of engineering to develop further. An example of a brilliant man is Bill Gates, who took advantage of his present to develop his future to secure his life and serve his society. As described in Outliers, Bill Gates was suffering in his educational period because he wanted to be an expert in programming computers. Therefore, he had to work extremely hard day and night to be successful. He created his own self-discipline and it made him invent Microsoft system, which led him to a successful and secure life that serves the community (49-52). This demonstrates that people should not use their success for their own benefit. Instead, people should use their success to help and impact the community in a positive manner.
I admit that in some cases, “success” can be reaches with out self-disciplined and hard work. An example of a person who used his family’s reputation and wealth to acquire success is Waleed Bin Talal, a prince of the Saudi royal family who is also a renowned businessman. It is important to note that, despite the financial success that Waleed Bin Talal earned in the past decades; his success was not made by his own effort but rather, he relied on his family’s reputation and wealth to achieve his success. This type of “success” by Waleed Bin Talal is not the desirable type of success that an individual should talk about. Using family’s reputation may lead to a luxurious, secured, and happier life. However, “Board of Directors” indicates that Waleed Bin Talal believes that he used his family reputation to become very successful in his life. I disagree because that is a fake success because he did not use the magnificent ability, which is self-discipline to achieve a goal; instead he relied on other sources to become a successful businessman like his respective royal family reputation to earn fame and wealth. I argue that success will only exist if self-discipline used in our characters because it will help me to graduate from college, and then serve the community. Graduating from college and serving the communities will result my life happier, secured, and successful.
In conclusion, the achievement of success by an individual brings joy and happiness to the individual. However, the path to achieve success is made up of many challenges and many difficult situations that a person can go through. However, through self-discipline, a person can be able to achieve his or her goals. When self-discipline, Canfield, American motivational speaker and author says it is important to consider the abilities that one possesses so that one can be able to set achievable goal (Canfield 34). This would enable a person to avoid unnecessary frustrations. On my part, I have been able to use my abilities in the field of electrical engineering to set achievable goals. Over the years, I have been able to achieve success through passing my examinations and gaining requisite knowledge required in performing tasks in the field of electrical engineering. I have been able to achieve this through effort and self-discipline. I soon hope to achieve other successes such as completing college and later using my knowledge and skills to serve the community. Words count: 2094
.Works Cited
“Board of Directors.” Www.kingdom.com. Kingdom Holdings Company. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
Canfield, Jack. The Success Principles: How to get from Where You Are to Where You Want To Be. New York: Prentice Hall Publishers, 2009. Print.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown and, 2008. Print.
(4-137).
Kinkade, Shawn. “The Bridge between Goals and Accomplishments? | Aspire.” Aspire The
Bridge between Goals and Accomplishments Comments. Aspire.com. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.
“New Years Resolution Statistics.” Statistic Brain RSS. Statisticbrain.com, 13 Dec. 2012. Web.
23 Apr. 2013.
Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address. Perf. Steve Jobs. YouTube. YouTube, 7 Mar.
2008. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
Why Are Some More People More Successful? Perf. Brian Tracy. YouTube. Youtube, 19 Jan.
2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.
Esmaeel 6
Ali Esmaeel
April 30, 2013
Amanda Harrison
English 113B
The Second Phase of the Modern Food
Food, what do we know about it? A simple human being knows that food is a vital source for survival. Why do we need food? We need food because it gives us energy and protein. Protein is very essential to humans because it helps build skin, blood, hair, and muscles. Since food is crucial people make a fortune both producing and selling food. For example, McDonald’s restaurants gained 22.79 Billion in 2008 (Bhasin 1). If we compared ourselves to the people of Great Roma, we would notice that we are getting fatter and sicker because most of us only eat fast food. At present, people suffer from obesity, diabetes, and cancer especially in the United States. “563,000 Americans die each year of cancer,” states Julieanna Hever, Dietician (Hever). This shows that the food poses a threat to people due to fast food companies injecting the food with chemical substances. These substances can make fast food dangerous in many ways, even though they seem very appealing to many people in many cultures.
However, most of the food that fast food restaurants serve represents its food culture to any tourist. For instance, if someone visits Lebanon and go to more than one restaurant, they will notice that many restaurants serve many similar meals. When I came to the United States the majority of fast food restaurants surprised me because in my Middle Eastern (Lebanese) culture, we do not deal with fast food restaurants. While I was turned off by many of the fast food chain’s practices, that is not to say that I have not fallen victim to fast food as well since coming to the United States. My experience at Red Chili’s showed me that factory raised food can be tempting, organically raised food is a warranty for a longer life because it has an excellent quality and the genes of food have not been altered.
The quality of any kind of food is highly essential for every restaurant and slaughterhouse; it distinguishes the cheap from the excellent restaurants. Quality can be noticed in the food that will allow you to determine the source and the possibility of contamination. For example, local farms or factories that raise food are the source of food; food contains chemical substances can be an example of components of food. Karl Weber, the author of Food, Inc. states, “What animals are fed directly affects the quality and safety of the meat and dairy products we consume” (Weber 20). This demonstrates that the contents of food used to feed animals are extremely critical because it determines that excellent from the cheap quality product. In the United States, almost every restaurant serve processed foods in their tables. In addition, Kai Ryssdal interviewed Melanie Warner, author of Pandora’s Lunchbox states, “Processed foods are, plus or minus, 70 percent of what most of us eat” (Ryssdal). Processed food is considered cheap quality because according to Aglaee Jacob, a dietitian, “Processed foods often contain additives, artificial flavorings and other chemical ingredients” (Jacob 1). This clarifies that processed foods are not healthy and considered a cheap quality for containing chemical substances that can lead to harmful diseases such as E. coli. In the movie, Food, Inc. Kevin passed away due to the hamburger that he ate because it was processed which caused E. coli and killed him.
The way that meat is processed can lead to contaminations and food borne pathogens. E. Coli is one of these that frequently occur in hamburger meat. The meat can be cooked to a certain temperature to kill these bacteria, however, too many times at fast food establishments; the rush to cook the food results in the bacteria not dying. It is important to note as well, that even if the proper temperature is reached during cooking, that if the cooked food comes into contact with another surface that the meat touched before cooking that it can be contaminated again and E. coli can live on surfaces for a very long time.
Additionally, my visit to Red Chili restaurant is an example of cheap quality. During my visit, I met Mary Akbar; she works as a waitress at Red Chili’s. Akbar told me that Red Chili used to be an excellent restaurant for having good quality food as the food was raised organically. Furthermore, since the restaurant started to raise the food (ingredients and meats) in factories the quality started to decrease. Weber states, “Today, many of the meat and dairy products sold in the United States come from farms” (19). This illustrates that the food in some restaurants such as Red Chili’s is a processed food because they produce their products in factories. As a result, their food does not apply in quality standards. In contrast, my grandparent’s farm is an example of high quality. Local farmers usually plant organic food, which results in high quality food. Organic food is a natural food, it is also food that is genes have not been altered or does not contain any type of chemical substances. In my grandparent’s farm, they plant organic bananas, strawberries, raspberries, lemon, and so many more. This shows that organically raised meat can have superior quality.
Many restaurants started to use Genetically Modifies Organism (GMO) because they can produce tremendous amounts of quantity. Weber states, “Does an heirloom tomato taste better than a mass-produced tomato?” (14). This shows that the usage of GMA in agriculture is hurting the taste of food. GMO can be defined as an invention that can manipulate the genes of animals and plants. Raymond Francis, Chairman and CEO of Beyond Health states, “GMO’s foods are dangerous” (Francis). This is evidence that GMO’s are harmful because it contains toxic materials. In Lebanon, people cannot alter the genes of their animals and plants because most of the farmers are poor and they cannot afford factories to make GMO’s food. In addition, even if they were able to afford to build factories to produce GMO’s food, it would be against Lebanese law. In my grandparent’s farm, pastures are the only food for livestock. Pastures are a type of grass that livestock use as a source for their food. Weber states, “According to a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists, beef and mil produced from cattle raised entirely on pasture have higher levels of beneficial fats, including omega-3 fatty acids, which may prevent heart disease and strengthen the immune system” (22). This demonstrates that organically raised foods are healthy for humanbeings because they provide us with many essential elements such as omega-3.
On the other hand, Red Chili that is known for using the American style of raising cattle is an example of factory raised food. Red Chili uses the GMO in their products to attract more customers. In the book Food, Inc. Weber states, “They want their products to be cheap and taste everywhere exactly the same” (14). This illustrates that there are many restaurants, including Red Chili that use the GMO method in their foods to make it tasty to attract customers as much as they can. However, in my grandparent’s farm, the workers use the basic method of growing seeds. The basic method of planting seeds is usually when the workers save their best seeds to plant it during the season for it. In contrast, Red Chili restaurants use the Monsanto Company method of planting seeds, which is altering the hormones of the seeds. The movie Food, Inc. reports, “By 2008, over 90% of soy beans in the U.S. contained Monsanto’s patented gene.” Furthermore, Troy Roush, Vice President of American Con Growers Association states, “Monsanto is a chemical company” (Kenner). This shows that Red Chili uses the soybeans in their products from Monsanto Company, which also shows that the factory raised food is harmful for both humanbeings and the rest of the environment.
I admit through my experience at Red Chili’s that factory raised meat can be very delicious. An online article states “Farmers and food safety advocates lead Monsanto backlash” indicates that President Obama will let the citizens of the United States know that their food has been genetically modified and it is not against the law. I disagree with President Obama, because GMO’s foods are considered dangerous to the environment due to it containing toxic materials. That should be enough to make it undesirable. If the essential source for living is causing a threat to human kind, it is only leading to death. This will ultimately end the human race, as it is known in the American agriculture if there is no change in the way food is created. A return to organic farming, as occurs on my grandparent’s farm, may result in fewer profits for fast food chains, but it would result in more customers for a longer period of time because people would not be dying as a result of the food they eat to live.
Despite that the food is the most essential source for living, there are still come companies such as McDonald’s that try to make the American food pose threat to the people. In spite of the experience I had at Red Chili’s, the food that my grandparent’s garden produces in Lebanon has changed my perspective toward the food in the United States, because it is safer. In Lebanon, most of the people have their own farms and this allows them to grow their own organic food. It is a much tastier and healthier option than food at fast food restaurants in the United States and the best benefit is that it will not make you sick or make you die in the long term. I think organic food should be used in the United States restaurants to help make people healthier again.
Word count: 1626
Works Cited
Jacob, Aglaee. “Processed Food Definition.” Healthy Earing. Hearst Communications Inc.
Web. 02 Apr. 2013.
“Processed Foods Make up 70 Percent of the U.S. Diet.” Interview by Kai Ryssdal.
Marketplace.org. American Public Media, 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 2 Apr. 2013.
Sheets, Adams. “SALON.” Saloncom RSS. Salon Media Group, Inc., 27 Mar. 2013. Web. 02 Apr. 2013.
The Talk on Improving Health, Fostering Sustainability and Addressing Hunger. Cond. Julieanna Hever. California State University, Northridge, California. 14 Mar. 2013. Performance.
Weber, Karl. Food, Inc.: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter and Poorer- and What You Can Do about It. 1st ed. New York: Public Affairs, 2009. Print.
April 30, 2013
Amanda Harrison
English Professor
8111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8272
Dear Professor Harrison:
The revisions to the paper, “The Second Phase of the Modern Food” were straightforward to make. The professor had clear notes on the paper regarding the areas that needed additional information or clarification as well as grammar problems that needed to be addressed. The first step to revise the essay was to correct all of the spelling and grammar problems that the professor had pointed out on the rough draft. After correcting these problems, I was able to address the content problems that were selected for revision by the professor.
The professor asked that some sentences be reworded for clarity. I read the entire paragraph to ensure that I understood the true meaning of the sentence and made the changes to make the sentence reflect the true intent. There were also spaces where the professor asked me to elaborate more, including the conclusion. I read the material that was already written and thought about the additional facts and thoughts that could be included. I added those thoughts to the paragraphs where they belonged. I changed the conclusion to attempt to tie the paper as a whole back together and share the final thoughts that summarized the paper as a whole.
After going through all of the notes that the professor had made on the paper, I read the paper out loud to myself one more time. This allowed me to catch a few times when I had used the wrong word or phrase in the paper and correct the problem. After this step, I used the spelling and grammar check feature in word to make sure that I did not leave any extra spaces anywhere or skip any periods. On sentences that I corrected according to the professor’s instructions, I ignored the spelling and grammar checker suggestions because they were incorrect. I did not trust the spelling and grammar checker because it can be inaccurate. After running the check, I still read over the paper several times, comparing it to the notes from the professor to make sure that I had completed the tasks as the notes required.
Sincerely,
Ali Esmaeel.
