Topic > How Our Choices Determine Our Success: Outliers and the Wild

Choices and success are a cycle; an interconnected cycle. It is the most important united cycle of all time. Without choices, there would be no success in this world. There would be no Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump or anyone else who has demonstrated what this society would consider success. They are successful because they made the choice to become entrepreneurs. Average citizens also have control over their own level of success. They make daily choices that facilitate their next action. The sum of their choices can determine the level of wealth and triumph. Despite the flawed human tendency to dodge blame, it is inevitable to say "I couldn't have done anything about it." Individuals have control over their own outcomes, their own future, their own destiny, their own life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In Jon Krakauer's biography Into The Wild, Chris McCandelss is introduced. Chris McCandelss was an interesting guy, yet he made fateful choices in his life. A scholar, enrolled at Emory University, with distinct taste in majors (history and anthropology) with a GPA of 3.72. He came from a wealthy family. One would expect him to earn a lot from a prestigious job, but this was not the case. He decided he would escape to the uncivilized, uncolonized world. It will be known that Chris died in Alaska, alone, on an abandoned bus. However, his disappearance was not the fault of Alaska, nor of any other human being. Chris was his own downfall. Krakauer respects some evidence of what led Chris astray. In chapter four Krakauer states, “The Detrital Wash extends about fifty miles from Lake Mead to the mountains north of Kingman; it drains a large chunk of the country. For much of the year the laundry is dry as chalk. During the summer months, however, superheated air rises from the scorched earth like bubbles from the bottom of a boiling kettle, rushing skyward in turbulent convective currents. Updrafts often create muscular, anvil-headed cumulonimbus cloud cells that can rise thirty thousand feet or more above the Mojave. Two days after McCandless set up camp beside Lake Mead, an unusually robust wall of storm clouds rose into the afternoon sky and began to rain, very heavily, across much of Detrital Valley. If Chris had done some research in the area where he wanted to find thrill and freedom, he would have known that certain times of the year have harsh conditions that will lead to an unfortunate experience. His choice not to study the Mojave climate influenced his result. Furthermore, on page 5 Krakauer writes “However, Galien was worried. Alex admitted that the only food in his backpack was a ten-pound bag of rice. His equipment seemed extremely minimal for the harsh conditions of the backcountry, which in April still lay buried under the winter snowpack. Alex's cheap leather hiking boots were neither waterproof nor well insulated. His rifle was alone. 22, too small a caliber to rely on if he planned to kill large animals such as moose and caribou, which he would have to eat if he hoped to stay in the country very long. He had no axe, no insecticide, no snowshoes, no compass." Chris had control over his life. He made the decision to venture to Alaska to achieve his independence. He knew he would do it, he had planned it in advance, as Krakauer notes: “When they arrived at his apartment, it was empty and a FOR RENT sign was taped to the window. The.