Fall Semester, Time of Effort

Thomas Edison said that “success is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration.” In other words, success is not a gift, but it always demands a greater effort to achieve. It is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out by an individual. To me, this Fall semester was really a great time because it was a time of the strongest efforts in my study.

In the Fall semester, I studied college classes at St. Norbert College. It was a good opportunity, but also a challenge for me. I underwent a difficult time when starting this course. I got low grades and felt pressure in the learning process. However, failure is never final.  I tried to not put myself into a depression and lose enthusiasm, but to make each failure become a step to success by learning from it. I strived to figure out consistent and best methods for my study. It was an initiative of effort to reach success.

After determining the best techniques, I put my strongest efforts into studying, worked harder on it, and prepared my lessons more carefully before going to school. I understand that no one is going to hand me success and I must go out and get it myself. Moreover, the more effort I place in what I want to achieve, the sooner I will see it coming true. However, I had to face another obstacle in learning English lessons by heart. I often took a long time and stayed up late to learn it. Sometimes, I felt frustrated and wanted to give up. Thanks to my instructor’s encouragement and help, I strived persistently and went on working hard day by day. Eventually, the first success appeared and I was so excited with higher test scores. I recognized that difficulty does not mean impossible, but it simply means that I have to work hard to overcome obstacles.

However, this success is not final, but is a new motivation for me to keep going on the next journey. It brought a huge change in my thought process. Instead of the worrying about failure, I identified that it was a part of success. I felt comfortable to continue my studies with my strongest efforts and persistence during the fall semester. By the end of this semester, I realized that what I had learned from it is much more than what I had achieved academically.  I learned precious lessons of persistence, effort, and enthusiasm in various circumstances on the path to success.

In conclusion, success is never a gift or only an inspiration, but is the result of perspiration because it takes time, effort and sacrifice to be successful in life. The most important things that I can do in order to achieve success is to work hard, be persistent, and never give up just because things get difficult. I believe that with a little more persistence and a little more effort, what seemed like hopeless failure may turn to success.