Serendipitous
Jan 8, 2011
Undergraduate / "How to be rich: Working hard or Luck?" - (common app essay) [5]
Prompt: Does anyone can be rich if they work hard enough or they just need a good luck?
I would appreciate any help to polish this essay. Thanks in advance. :')
To Be Rich: To Maximize the Probability
If anyone could be rich because of his great effort, I would expect an abundance of affluent laborers as they work industriously almost all the time. Or were anyone rich because of his luck, I would expect no one desperately immerses himself in an endless loop of what-if questions as he had exploited his luck effectively and efficiently. Neither working hard nor luck alone makes everyone rich. In fact, both working hard and luck help but not much. It is a combination of working hard seasoned with wisdom and luck, information and preparation, and education and motivation that significantly increases a possibility to be rich.
All experience is an arch, to build upon. One of the keys to success is manipulation of experience - a man should strive for the sake of gaining more useful experience, and use it wisely as a ticket to a shining future different from an ordinary laborer. A case study from Tan Passakornnatee, the former managing director of Oishi Group, illustrates the point. He was born in a poor family and had to stop studying to work at age of seventeen. At first, he worked as a laborer then as a bookseller before he started a business; surprisingly, he had done business in various fields such as coffee shop, gift shop, and beauty salon. Consequently, he had a lot of invaluable experience which illuminated an idea of investing in Japanese restaurant market in Thailand and made it into reality without any problems. At that time in Thailand, investing in Japanese restaurant market was considered as high-risk because of public sentiment toward Japanese restaurants as extravagant. Despite the risk, Tan Passakornatee, however, managed to prosper as he made Thai people feel familiar with Japanese food by Oishi green tea which is new and affordable, and built a strong connection with the media. Nowadays, Oishi Group has become well-known to all Thais regardless of sex and age, and without doubt Tan Passakornnatee is recognized as one of the richest people of Thailand.
Luck is when opportunity meets preparation. At some slice of our life, there is an opportunity for us to thrive. A question arises whether we have prepared enough to exploit the opportunity provided at its maximum potential. Another key to success is seeking for beneficial information. There is a vast difference between those who know and don't know. For instance, as one of students in a value investment course, I was intrigued by what Dr. Niwet Meochinarakon , the most famous value investor of Thailand , did during Tom Yum Kung Crisis in 2540. During the depression, many companies had to close down, millionaires went bankrupt, and the suicidal rate increased. Many shareholders decided to sell all of their shares thinking they could get rid of additional problems; on the other hand, Dr. Niwet Meochinarakon sought for information of several companies: business performance, companies' management, past profit and debt, and companies' prospective growth. Later, he invested all of his money in the stock market - buying shares of promising companies such as Thai President Foods Public Company, Wacoal, and Stanley Works. Nowadays, Dr. Niwet Meochinarakon has a billion of Baht in a bank; moreover, he does not have to ask himself "What if I have invested my money during those days in the past" as he knew more information and made the more promising decision compared to others.
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. The final key to success is education with strong motivation. To illustrate, history of Dr. Sardtra Chaoteang, a researcher of the National Science and Technology Development Agency at Thailand, shows that everyone can be successful if he studies hard. Dr. Sardtra Chaoteang was raised solely by his aunt who was a festoon seller. He had to help his aunt sell festoons and study at the same time; however, with his strong motivation to move on, he spent all of his free time to study. His teacher said everyday he would bike to school with a basket full of his books and his aunt's festoon, and ask any teachers he passed by questions from the books. As a result, he won a Thai scholarship to study Bioscience at the University of Birmingham in England. Ten years later, he was hired by the National Science and Technology Development Agency to be one of a medical molecular biology research team. His life changes a lot - a little boy in the past is now a smart researcher because of his knowledge and his effort. For him, almost all Ratchaburi children admire him as an idol. For me, I believe that he used his potential intellectually, and was warm forever in his life by its afterglow.
I have heard many people talking about their idea of either working hard or luck is capable of making anyone rich. They viewed the world at a one-way direction. There is diversity of individuality; therefore, there exist no one solid method to make everyone rich. To be rich is to properly combine man's potential with overwhelming factors. However, the combination of working hard seasoned with wisdom and luck, information and preparation, and education and motivation significantly increases the possibility to be prosperous. Imagine a dice with countless black-or-white faces which is rolled every second in our life, and a condition is if the dice shows a black face, we will be rich. My combination hastens the speed of painting black on white faces. To be rich is to maximize the probability; my combination makes it more plausible to be rich.
Prompt: Does anyone can be rich if they work hard enough or they just need a good luck?
I would appreciate any help to polish this essay. Thanks in advance. :')
To Be Rich: To Maximize the Probability
If anyone could be rich because of his great effort, I would expect an abundance of affluent laborers as they work industriously almost all the time. Or were anyone rich because of his luck, I would expect no one desperately immerses himself in an endless loop of what-if questions as he had exploited his luck effectively and efficiently. Neither working hard nor luck alone makes everyone rich. In fact, both working hard and luck help but not much. It is a combination of working hard seasoned with wisdom and luck, information and preparation, and education and motivation that significantly increases a possibility to be rich.
All experience is an arch, to build upon. One of the keys to success is manipulation of experience - a man should strive for the sake of gaining more useful experience, and use it wisely as a ticket to a shining future different from an ordinary laborer. A case study from Tan Passakornnatee, the former managing director of Oishi Group, illustrates the point. He was born in a poor family and had to stop studying to work at age of seventeen. At first, he worked as a laborer then as a bookseller before he started a business; surprisingly, he had done business in various fields such as coffee shop, gift shop, and beauty salon. Consequently, he had a lot of invaluable experience which illuminated an idea of investing in Japanese restaurant market in Thailand and made it into reality without any problems. At that time in Thailand, investing in Japanese restaurant market was considered as high-risk because of public sentiment toward Japanese restaurants as extravagant. Despite the risk, Tan Passakornatee, however, managed to prosper as he made Thai people feel familiar with Japanese food by Oishi green tea which is new and affordable, and built a strong connection with the media. Nowadays, Oishi Group has become well-known to all Thais regardless of sex and age, and without doubt Tan Passakornnatee is recognized as one of the richest people of Thailand.
Luck is when opportunity meets preparation. At some slice of our life, there is an opportunity for us to thrive. A question arises whether we have prepared enough to exploit the opportunity provided at its maximum potential. Another key to success is seeking for beneficial information. There is a vast difference between those who know and don't know. For instance, as one of students in a value investment course, I was intrigued by what Dr. Niwet Meochinarakon , the most famous value investor of Thailand , did during Tom Yum Kung Crisis in 2540. During the depression, many companies had to close down, millionaires went bankrupt, and the suicidal rate increased. Many shareholders decided to sell all of their shares thinking they could get rid of additional problems; on the other hand, Dr. Niwet Meochinarakon sought for information of several companies: business performance, companies' management, past profit and debt, and companies' prospective growth. Later, he invested all of his money in the stock market - buying shares of promising companies such as Thai President Foods Public Company, Wacoal, and Stanley Works. Nowadays, Dr. Niwet Meochinarakon has a billion of Baht in a bank; moreover, he does not have to ask himself "What if I have invested my money during those days in the past" as he knew more information and made the more promising decision compared to others.
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. The final key to success is education with strong motivation. To illustrate, history of Dr. Sardtra Chaoteang, a researcher of the National Science and Technology Development Agency at Thailand, shows that everyone can be successful if he studies hard. Dr. Sardtra Chaoteang was raised solely by his aunt who was a festoon seller. He had to help his aunt sell festoons and study at the same time; however, with his strong motivation to move on, he spent all of his free time to study. His teacher said everyday he would bike to school with a basket full of his books and his aunt's festoon, and ask any teachers he passed by questions from the books. As a result, he won a Thai scholarship to study Bioscience at the University of Birmingham in England. Ten years later, he was hired by the National Science and Technology Development Agency to be one of a medical molecular biology research team. His life changes a lot - a little boy in the past is now a smart researcher because of his knowledge and his effort. For him, almost all Ratchaburi children admire him as an idol. For me, I believe that he used his potential intellectually, and was warm forever in his life by its afterglow.
I have heard many people talking about their idea of either working hard or luck is capable of making anyone rich. They viewed the world at a one-way direction. There is diversity of individuality; therefore, there exist no one solid method to make everyone rich. To be rich is to properly combine man's potential with overwhelming factors. However, the combination of working hard seasoned with wisdom and luck, information and preparation, and education and motivation significantly increases the possibility to be prosperous. Imagine a dice with countless black-or-white faces which is rolled every second in our life, and a condition is if the dice shows a black face, we will be rich. My combination hastens the speed of painting black on white faces. To be rich is to maximize the probability; my combination makes it more plausible to be rich.