Nowadays, modern society practices two absolutely opposite approaches of success achievement. While one portion of the population believes that real success is a result of an individual sacrifice, the other assures that people can reach success only through positive intention and mentality. I believe that both approaches can lead to successfulness, and the real question in achieving it is to find a balanced approach.
On the one hand, I fully understand those individuals who support the idea of achieving success through failure and hardship. It is worth mentioning that this approach is spread whithin the older generation and highly religious people. The idea of achieving goals through sacrifies is fundamental to the main traditional religions, which is why it is widely expanded in conventional societies. Moreover, failures is always a good way of gaining necessary experience. It is obvious that without trying and failing particular individuals as well as society as a whole would not reach what they allready achieved in terms of the quality of life, social benefits and other advantades. However, I believe that such an approach is relatively outdated.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are people who believe that success is only possible if one is a positive thinker and open-minded person. I believe that this is the most progressive idea of achieving success, and it is a more common view among the young generation. Positive thinking is a part of modern culture, wich values personality, independence and other ideas of self-development. The main benefit of this point of view is that people can work freely and create thing without struggling under the pressure of a system or old views. However, I believe that the ideal is somewhere in the middle.
In conclusion, while I can understand the grounds of both points of view, I believe that the most benefitial approach for an individuals to achieve success is the one where strengths of both approaches are combined.