<p>Every important discovery results from patience, perseverance, and concentration--sometimes continuing for months or years--on one specific subject. A person who wants to discover a new truth must remain absorbed by that one subject, must pay no attention to any thought that is unrelated to the problem. </p>
<p>Adapted from Santiago Ramon Cajal, Advice for a Young Investigator </p>
<p>Assignment: Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading</p>
<pre><code> Focus is essential for a person to get what they want. A person's mind must be completely absorbed in the subject in which a person wants to succeed in. A person's mind must be in full concentration and should keep his or her goal within his or her grasp. There are no shortcuts-every little bit of focus must be used. This is the only way to succeed. Therefore, all important discoveries are the result of focusing on one subject.
My father only achieved his goal (of owning his own art company) by only thinking about art, and how he was going to thrive in that subject. Starting in high school, my father set his mind to completing his long term goal. To his peers, the fact that my father loved art was blatant. After countless nights of practicing, my father reached his full potential (10 years later), to produce his own company. If his mind lingered toward some other subject, he might not have been the very successful man he is today. Along the way, my father made an important discovery. It was that he had talent in clothes designing. This important discovery is a result of focusing his mind one one subject, and one subject only.
Christopher Columbus, the world famous sailor, the discoverer of North and South America, found the Americas only by having his mind comsumed by one subject. If he hadn't gotten the King and Queen of Span's money, he would have not discovered this continent we are living on. Basically, he set his mind to trying to travel around the globe, and it resulted him in discovering America.
Detectives must always concentrate on one case (subject, in this case), before they can find clues which lead to discoveries (finding the culprit). Instead of incarcerating every single suspect, a detective must narrow the suspects down using a series of clues. Clues are only found if every sense of the body is used in trying to find something unusual. If any sense is delayed in perception, an important clue might be overlooked. When one subject is interfered with by another subject, people aren't doing their best.
Instead of two, if a person focuses on one subject, the person will have less to think about. Any person usually has stress from having too many things on his or her mind. He or she should focus on only one long term goal. My father, Christopher Columbus, and detectives all had their minds set on one single subject. They all succeeded as a result of diligently thriving on one subject.
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<p>My son's essay. (8th grader)
The scorers scored it as a 10 (both scorers gave him a 5)</p>