<p>I've always prided myself on being a good writer, but when I took the SAT, I only got a 6/12. This messed up my Writing Score which in turn messed up my overall score. So I'm doing a lot of practice essays this summer to get ready for the test again in October. This is one I did the other day. I'm open to anybody's feedback as I try to improve in this area.</p>
<p>Assignment: Are people likely to succeed by repeating actions that worked for them in the past?</p>
<p>"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a good motto. It means that if something is successful, it should continue as is. If certain actions were successful for a person once, they are highly likely to bring success again.
Good luck rituals are a good example of this. For instance, the first time I took a standardized test, I used five black pencils and wore a black wristband purchased at a great concert. Although I was very nervous, I passed the test with a score high enough admit me into an elite honor society. So of course the next standardized test I took, those same pencils and armbands came with me! Even just imagining that these regular items were part of the key to my success made the testing easier. This ritual gave me the confidence to push through my test-taking worries and do very well on my standardized tests.
Another good example of this involves the Walt Disney company and their movie making strategies in the '90's. Coming away from a successive train of box-office failures in the eighties, the company was desperate to once again claim the spot as the world's most successful family movie company. Instead of lamenting their failures and focusing on the problems that made their recent movies unsuccessful, the Disney company instead focused on what made their movies successful during their heyday back when the company's founder Walt was alive --commitment to story-telling of the highest quality. Remembering the methods used for some of their biggest successes from way-back-when, Walt Disney regrouped and relaunched its cartoon movies. The result was the extremely popular and unforgettable films like Aladdin, the Little Mermaid, Tarzan, and Beauty and the Beast. By focusing on what had worked in the past instead of what didn't, Disney became more successful than ever.
Repeating actions that were successful in the past usually does result in success today. Whether repeating familiar rituals merely creates a good feeling of confidence (like in my standardized test-taking) or repeating previously successful tactics creates winning films, there's no denying that retracing one's steps and doing what has worked before is a good idea</p>