Some people believe that talent and a winning attitude are all you need to be successful in your endeavors, but a winning attitude means having determination, which many people lack. As seen on wisdomforthesoul.org, “true leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination.” Determination is a major factor in the overall success or failure of a person's endeavors. Unfortunately, determination is not something that comes easy to most people. To be truly determined, a person must first be passionate about what they are doing. Passion, however, is only the first step towards resolution and determination. You have to have a clear goal in mind and be willing to do anything to achieve it. Once they focus their mind on the task at hand and do not allow obstacles to stand in their way, then they have reached the state of true determination. This is how a normal person can move mountains, how an earthbound society can fly to the moon, and how we can, as a society, do things we never thought possible. The word determination comes from the Latin "to determine". or to set limits. Looking even deeper into the word, the prefix de-, (meaning to remove), and the root term, meaning limits, form the word determination, as found on etymonline.com. So how does this play into the sense of determination we have now? Personally, I work hard to set high limits, or even remove them completely, in my endeavors. The downside is that I always look to the future, and never to the present, which isn't exactly ideal when you consider the fact that short-term goals translate into long-term destinations. So, obviously, determination has its positive aspects, a...... middle of paper ......ary/determination>."Determination - Definition of Determination in the free online dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia." Dictionary, encyclopedia and synonyms: the free dictionary. Network. 04 March 2011. "Determination/Persistence/Resolve." Wisdom for the soul. Network. March 4, 2011. "Favorite Motivational Quotes." PeopleFirst: Improving companies by improving their people. Network. 04 March 2011. Online etymological dictionary. Network. 04 March 2011. "Synonyms of determination, antonyms of determination | Thesaurus.com." Thesaurus.com | Free online dictionary of synonyms and antonyms. Network. March 23. 2011. .