ARTICLE ENTRY 1: HOW TO REACH THE WAY TO SUCCESS?

• Reflection to the article “How to Get the Most out of Yourself” by Alan Loy McGinnis

 “Why are some persons successful and productive while others struggle along unhappily?”. Who does not want to read an article starting with such a question? I have my own key to success in my mind, yet I wanted to learn what the writer was going to tell about this issue. I could not help being curious about his answer to this question.

I think this article is a great work because after you read it, you will feel good and want to do something to succeed. The writer’s tone is very friendly and encouraging. In addition, the examples that he gave are really nice stories.

According to the writer success comes with confidence. Believing yourself and accepting yourself as you are is very important to be successful and happy. However, if you are always complaining about yourself, you can neither achieve anything nor be happy. So, the thing to do is to increase your self-perception or self-image. The writer lists five ways to gain your self-confidence.

Focusing on your potential is the first step. You should forget everybody that seems more successful, happier or wittier to you because it harms your self-worth. Instead, you should learn to be yourself. This is the most crucial way to succeed because without knowing your capacity, you cannot improve yourself, which means that you cannot go further.

Secondly, you should develop one of your skills because saying that you are doing something well is not enough. You should work on it hard so that when you see people who are more skilled in some areas than you, you do not lose your confidence. You just need to devote yourself to the thing that you do best and you should never give up.

Thirdly, picturing yourself as successful in your mind makes everything easier. The writer calls it imaging or visualization. If you do this simple exercise every day, you can strengthen your self-confidence. It helps you think in a positive way. So, you start feeling perfect enough to succeed.

The rule of leading a joyful life is to live your life with your own decisions. Here comes the fourth step for being successful: Stop minding other people’s expectations! As you go on working for a job that you do not like but others wanted you to do, you cannot be happy. This feeling diminishes your success at work. Finally, you find yourself in a depressive situation and your confidence disappears.

The last step is to feed yourself emotionally from your relationships. You should spend some of your time with your friends or relatives. They find a way to make you smile. You feel safe and more self-confident around them because you know that they will always support you whatever you do.

I think the writer is totally right about the connection between self-confidence and success. All the ways he offers make sense to me. However, I do not use the last step much because sometimes I need silence and I want to stay away from everybody, even from my family and my best friends. When I am alone, I think properly. I can easily find who I am and who I want to be. The idea of standing on my own legs makes me stronger and happier. It is the first step for me to feel confident. Nobody can truly know me or help me. So, I have nobody but myself to rely on.

All in all, this article may enlarge your perspective about being happy and successful. Nonetheless, you do not have to follow every step explained by the writer. I think following your instincts and finding the most appropriate way for you to succeed are superior to the steps above.     

JOURNAL ENTRY 1: THE WORLD OF “DUBLINERS”

“Dubliners” is one of my favourite short story collection books for three main reasons. Firstly, James Joyce wrote it and I really like reading James Joyce. Secondly, the stories are amazing and full of different lives and challenges. Lastly, the setting in all these stories is Dublin and it is a wonderland for me to explore.

I guess I would have not read Dubliners if the writer of it had not been James Joyce. I like his style and the way he deals with the topics related to society in his writing. Some people say that “Dubliners” shows a negative picture of Dublin and criticize James Joyce because of this. In fact, that negative picture comes from the circumstances of the years when Joyce wrote these stories. The country suffered from the economy and the policy, which influenced the society negatively. Nevertheless, thanks to Joyce, we can enlighten a part of history in Dublin now. I admire his honesty and realistic observations. James Joyce studied language and philosophy when he was a student. Hence, he is good at playing with the words and he has a unique effect on readers. While reading his stories, I feel like I am there as one of the characters living all the things he planned. In addition, I can find a character similar to me in each story. That makes reading fast and exciting.

There are fifteen short stories in “Dubliners”. They are about the difficulty of life, making a decision and taking an action. Every story has different characters. There are people of all ages and sexes, yet they are connected to each other interestingly. If I were a historian or a sociologist, it would be a great pleasure for me to read Dubliners and think on it because it is a mirror to the social and cultural life in Dublin and people living there. Every sentence gives clues about the whole picture and genuine feelings of the characters. These short stories are really easy to read because they are written in a simple language. On the other hand, all stories are so complicated and deep that I cannot hide my astonishment after analyzing them. “Araby”, “Eveline”, “A Painful Case” and “The Dead” are the most stunning stories according to me. However, it would be unfair not to say that all these stories are impressive enough to remember all the time. In my “Introduction to Literature” class, “Eveline” was among the short stories we read. It may seem like a love story, but I do not agree that it tells the story of a girl who cannot escape with his lover. Instead, it tells the story of a girl who does not know who she is and what to do because there is a big burden on her shoulders such as promises, chores and taking care of her family. She does not have her own life. She has to live the life that others created for her. “Eveline” can be interpreted with feministic and humanistic approaches. It is unbelievable to find many messages in such a short story. That is why I like it so much.

Dublin is the capital of Ireland. Ireland is a fascinating country with its nature. It is one of the places I want to visit. I wonder Irish pubs and Irish food.  However, reading “Dubliners” helped me figure out how the real life in Dublin may be. I tried to imagine Dublin considering its economy, family affairs, etc. I made a journey from my chair to Dublin through pages of my precious book. Even when I finished the book, I found myself wandering in Dublin and thinking. I think James Joyce is totally right: "For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal."

To sum up, “Dubliners” is a special book for me because of the writer, the stories and Dublin. In my opinion, these three things make this collection a masterpiece. I am sure that you will never forget Joyce’s Dubliners once you read it.

Above, you can watch a short film adapted from the short story “The Dead” from “Dubliners”. This is absolutely a sad story, but we all can face such things in life. The reason why I like this short film and also the story is that sometimes I hear a song or listen to a song that reminds me of something or somebody. If it is a good memory, I smile. If it is not, I just get silent and think. So, I can understand the characters in the story. This is the story of everyone because it is real. Additionally, after reading “The Dead”, watching this short film makes me feel the sorrow of the dead lover, the wife and the husband. I hope you will like the story and the film.