Many of us measure our success by what others have done. Many of us have only a vague idea of what we ultimately want out of life. And even if we can describe it, we don’t translate that belief into our daily actions and decisions. If we can spell out an axiom we want to live by and repeat that axiom often, we may perhaps translate that success into an everyday habit. In sum, quality of our thoughts means quality of our lives.
Why are some of us not able to tell others about our assets and strengths? Maybe, merely because we are modest and wait for others to point out our virtues. There are others who brag and boast about their absent qualities merely to impress their friends. But such behaviour does not make any impact on others.
On the contrary, the modest ones slowly unfold their hidden qualities, which gradually get noticed by others. But, remember that too much of modesty may result in low performance in life. A line has to be drawn somewhere to separate modesty from overblown ego.
I had a friend who used to make a list of things to be done for the day. He marked some with red and others with green. That gave him the habit to give priority to certain tasks and postpone some for the next day. The fact is that we need discipline to realise our potential, to use our time well and to stay with a task till completion. Sometimes, we have to monitor, follow-through and persist with certain problems to get and achieve the desired results.
Once Nelson Mandela who was in jail for 27 years when asked about his infinite patience, tolerance and magnanimity replied: “I learnt it all from Mahatma Gandhi who had the courage to experiment with truth and had the courage to adopt them in his struggle for freedom for India.” Remember that we are measured in wealth not by our holdings of gold but by what we have gathered from life. Management Guru Peter Drucker says that our success in life is mostly related to our writing and speaking skills. ‘Remember, that the whole world is in a state of ‘not listening’. Students don’t listen to teachers. Suppliers don’t listen to customers. Children don’t listen to parents and the common man does not listen to sane voices. In such circumstances, persuasive communication is an effective weapon, which can be developed only by what we read, digest, assimilate and appropriate to make life a meaningful adventure.’
