Achieve achievement

DEFINITION

To achieve is to accomplish; to perform with success; to attain with effort or despite difficulty. Achievement is either the act of accomplishing or the thing accomplished. Achievement is especially the successful performance that reaches or exceeds a standard level.A distinction between effort and achievement is noteworthy: effort is trying which may or may not result in success, while achievement is effort resulting in success. In other words, effort is of tremendous importance, but unless (or until) effort results in meeting goals, it does not met the criterion of "achievement." In an educational setting, the goals of assignments are set by educators (as part of a larger community) to be observable objectives. In a graphic design environment, goals may tied to sets of clients' specifications. In the fine arts, artists' achievements may be gauged by gallery sales and the judgments of viewers (especially of art critics, art historians, museums, and posterity). In each of these and in all art arenas, as in life's endeavors of every kind, the most fundamental gauge of achievement is ultimately one's measure of personal satisfaction.The reception of praise, awards, or cash payments should not be confused with achievements (unless those have been the principal motivating factors, which would tend to devalue them), although these things recognize achievements. Renown, whether fame or notoriety, is another indicator of achievement, potentially both helpful and problematic. Historically, the works for which artists first become famous, have persistently influenced how later works are received. So, although renown may be achieved, what you wish to be renowned for is more worthy of your attention than the striving for renown itself. Vandals and forgers may become famous, after all, but are those reputations anyone needs?!In heraldry, a coat of arms is sometimes called a "complete achievement."Quotes: "Death comes to all But great achievements raise a monument Which shall endure until the sun grows old." George Fabricius (1678-1707), Irish dramatist. In Praise of Georgius Agricola. "Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified." Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer. "The secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in mind." Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American writer. See transcendentalism. "When we do not know a person ? and also when we do ? we have to judge his size by the size and nature of his achievements, as compared with the achievements of others in his special line of business ? there is no other way." Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835-1910), American writer. Christian Science. "You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement." Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), US President and educator. "Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement." Henry Ford (1863-1947), American industrialist and manufacturing innovator. "The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence." Robert Henri (1865-1929), American painter and educator. See Ashcan school and The Eight. "What one does is what counts and not what one had the intention of doing." Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish painter. See Cubism. "Painting constantly appeared to me as the one and only possible achievement." Max Beckmann (1884-1950), German painter. See Expressionism and German art. "Art means something very rare, an extraordinary achievement." Wayne Thiebaud (1920-), American painter. See Pop Art.Also see advocacy, artistic temperament, art therapy, attitude, choose, creativity, death, effort, enthusiasm, evaluation, genius, Individualized Education Program (IEP), inspiration, monument, motivation, multiple intelligence theory, obsession, perfection, posterity, and talent.