Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Success in Life—What it Depends on” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Success in Life—What it Depends on

Behind all human effort there lies a hope for success. Man tries plans and labours so long as there is present in his mind, the faintest hope of succeeding in his attempt. This hope generates and directs human energy. When the hope ends, man faints and sinks. So keen is his desire for success that he takes it as the only thing worth having in life and refuses to see any value in failure. When he is told that failures are the pillars of success, he simply laughs and takes it to be an empty and foolish consolation. Success then is the goal of life and to some it is the highest goal of life. It is so, particular in the modern world, which has developed a cult of success.

But what is success? Success may be described as the realization of an aim. When a man is engaged in any serious work, there is present at the back of his mind, an aim or object which he tries to attain. When the means are adequate for realizing his aim, he attains success. Now for such a coveted thing, we naturally enquire about the factors on which it depends. These may be roughly divided into two classes, those which are beyond our control and those which are within our control. Time, place and opportunity belong to the first class. They help us in no small way in attaining success, but very often they are beyond our control. They do not come and go at the beck and call of man. Man tries to seize them when they come and turn them to his use, but he finds that in spite of his best endeavour he cannot summon time, place and opportunity, whenever he likes, to help him.

However, there are certain elements which are within his reach and on which success greatly depends. They comprise physical and mental abilities. The body must be fit to carry out fully what a man plans. Often well-planned schemes have failed on account of physical unfitness. Life is a bitter struggle and those who are physically weak cannot fight it. Intelligence is another quality which is essentially required for success. Mere physical strength without intelligence cannot carry a man very far.

The next thing is mental fitness. This includes many virtues. First, we must have a clear vision. This will enable us to hold before our mind, aim or purpose which we have capacity to realize. The life of divided aims exhausts his energy and tires him. He goes on from one scheme to another having faith in none and achieve nothing. Modern world is full of such failures.

Steadiness and perseverance is another essential quality for success. Perseverance teaches us to be patient and plodding. In the world of nature as well as in the world of man, things grow by degree. Here progress is slow and steady. This is so because world is full of obstacles and these have to be overcome to reach the goal. There is no royal road to success. To fight with these impediments, patience and fortitude are required. We must go on with our work without haste.

But this is possible if we can hold our souls in patience and proceed steadily and firmly keeping our goal in view. But clarity of vision and perseverance depend ultimately upon our character, which is the pivot on which the whole life turns. If character is not formed or where it is half-formed, men act by fits and starts, but never steadily. A man must have faith in his work, faith in his ability and control over his senses and faculties in order to work steadily. Right willing depends upon right thinking and right thinking upon right conduct. This is why character has been spoken of as crown and glory of life.

It is the possession of greater or lesser degree of intelligence that decides who will lead and who are to be led. The world is a place where the survival of the fittest is the law and fitness means as much physical fitness as mental alertness or intelligence. No doubt, there are other elements like honesty, truthfulness and presence of mind, but they are often to be found in a man of character. If we keep our body fit, our aim unclouded, if we possess perseverance, intelligence and character, we can make our life a success.