“All in all, its just a brick in the wall..” – Pink Floyd
What is it about you that is different? What makes you special? Actually, what makes “YOU”? Have you ever taken a moment and thought about this?
All day we set about our daily lives, working to achieve our goals, to reach somewhere, to realize a dream. But do we stop and ponder over what we are right now and what do we want to be?
And what are those goals anyway? Let’s say you want to become a bureaucrat. What is in you that makes you eligible to become one? Are you intelligent? Are you well-balanced? Are you knowledgeable? What is it about you?
It is very important to think about these questions because this will give a better understanding of yourself. And life in general and any great task in particular is nothing but a journey of self-realization. You discover yourself when you set about doing something. You discover yourself when success kisses your feet or failure looks in your eye. Someone said in a great movie “you never truly get to know yourself unless you’ve been in a fight”.
Now why do you need to waste time in thinking about yourself. You might say that you’d rather work/study in that time. Very true. But life is like a game of chess. To reach your goal (victory), you would have to know about your various moves to choose the right ones for the right moments. If you don’t know what your queen is and what she does, you are in for a big trouble.
Running this race is fine, its fun. But an athlete who wins is an athlete who knows himself. So many people run races, but there’s only one winner. So many batsmen play cricket, but there is only one Sachin, So many play tennis, but there is only one Roger Federer.
So many aspire, only one achieves.
Why?
Because he is the one who knows himself. And who always wants to get better. He is the one who is constantly measuring himself. He is the one who is NEVER SATISFIED. He is the one who gets up in the morning when every body else is sleeping. He is the one who never says “enough for today!”. He is the one who does not give up. He sees OPPORTUNITY in roadblocks. He is the one who stays humble and focused in success. He is the one who LEARNS.
He is the one who wins.
How do you define success?
Medals? Trophies? Ranks? Titles? Press interviews? BMWs? Blondes? Page3 parties?
NAH!
Ask any of these achievers how would they describe their success and they will always tell you that its what they’ve become in achieving all these things that is the real success.
Its not an idealistic view, but a very practical one.
You set a goal. You measure yourself. There are so many others that match you or surpass you. You work hard. You get ahead of some. You work hard. You get ahead of some more. You work harder still. And finally you will get ahead of all. THAT is the key.
But unless you stop and measure yourself, you will never get to know where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there. For reaching B from A, you need to know both B and A. many people know their Bs, but since they don’t stop and get to know their As, they don’t get to their Bs.
What do you do then, once you do measure yourself. You look at two things – where others are, and where CAN you be.
And what is more important?
The latter.
Why?
Who is your greatest enemy/competitor/foe?
You might have rattled off many names, but I will give you an advice.
Get up and reach the closest mirror available.
Let me introduce you to your greatest rival.
YOURSELF.
If you are not the best around, fight yourself. Because it is you yourself that is stopping you to be one. That’s very true. If we are not what we can be, we have no one else to blame but ourselves.
Your greatest enemy manifests itself in various forms – indiscipline, laziness, anger, jealousy, distraction, procrastination.
This is the army you fight. And you have a battle on your hands.
So ask yourself. What sets you apart.
