Since the beginning of time, the debate over success has shaped how countries have implemented policies and incentives aimed at maximizing all the talent at their disposal. Some have obviously been more successful than others in creating sustainable communities, and the reasons are often unclear as to why intellectual and economic gaps exist between societies. Factors such as geographical location and natural resources obviously play a role, in which case the next logical question would be whether these factors are the main reasons for the success of a thriving society compared to the people and their important talents of which the society may be composed . . The roots of such differences can be traced back to the very origins of success, and only by clearly defining the term can a society seek to separate itself from the rest of the world. In its most basic form, success is opportunities. Without opportunity, no matter how brilliant a person may be, he or she will be lost among the thousands of individuals who possess the same talents or intelligence. Therefore, success is determined by the extent to which a person takes advantage of their opportunities, and societies that offer the greatest number of opportunities to their citizens will always run far ahead of the competition. The American Dream, essentially the constant The reiterated and embellished idea of ​​someone who owned nothing and ended up with everything, tends to give rise to misconceptions among today's citizens about the nature of success itself. What this idea promotes is essentially that anyone can climb the social ladder regardless of the circumstances around them. However, it should be noted that while many have the potential to be... middle of the paper... potential they have never had before. As stated by Michael Cox and Richard Alms in their book Myths of Rich and Poor, “the average American's spending on services has increased 83% since the early 1970s” (Source D). There are more booming businesses and economic surpluses than ever before. The opportunities are there, and if only citizens and leaders would look around, prosperity will only grow in the United States and beyond. Sometimes maximizing potential is as simple as creating a hockey team for children born in the second half of the year, and sometimes it can require restructuring an entire government. But the important thing is that there is no way to know whether something is possible or not until it is tried, and even this simple knowledge can move both individual people and entire societies from simply “good” to the best of the best..