And you want to succeed …

A recent survey of the YOUth showed that each one of them wanted to be successful; and yet the survey also found that by the age of 65 only 5% of them would be successful! Isn’t it a shame? Did you wonder why is this disparity? Is it in the genes? Family heirloom? Education? None of the above – NOTA.

The opposite of courage, in our present society is NOT cowardice, but conformity. Everyone seems to be doing, what others are doing. The parents, seem to be telling their children, XII – Engineering (preferably IIT), get a job and life will be good. Really? This equation fails to ask the one MOST important question, does the child want to do engineering? Is he suited for engineering?

The KEY to success is setting yourself a GOAL!!! People who have goals know where they are going. It helps you see where you want to go – a route chart, to YOUr destination. YOU choose that. The right question therefore to ask is, Have I set myself any goal? Well, the equation is pretty simple; No goal – no destination – no guidance.

So the question you’d ask me is: Why do people with goals succeed? Remember, We become what we think about. Through the ages, seers, sage, philosophers, savants have all propounded various routes to salvation, Its only on one theme they all had complete and unanimous agreement: If you want to succeed – set yourself a goal. “A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it” – Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Roman Emperor. or “A man is what he thinks about all day long” – Ralph Waldo Emerson. Fact is, a man can alter his life, by altering his thoughts.

If you want to be rich, you’ll be rich. If you want to be learned, you’ll be learned. If you want to be good, you’ll be good. Only you must and really wish these things and exclusively want them. It should not be cluttered or wished along with some other minor wishes. Even the Bible (Mark Ch 9, v 23) says; “Jesus said unto him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes”. Belief is something which we lack. If you think in negative terms, you’ll get negative results. If you think in positive terms, you’ll get positive results. This is a Law of nature, just like the other laws of physics. To put it in two words: Believe and Succeed.

The Bard had to say this in Measure for Measure, “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt”.

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make” – George Bernard Shaw.

It all boils down to; we become what we think about. If you think about nothing, you’ll become nothing. So, how does it work?

Let me paint a situation. Suppose you have a good fertile land and as a farmer you have a choice to plant what you choose. Understand, the land doesn’t care. It is upto the farmer to make a choice. The land will return what you plant. The farmer has a choice: plant corn seeds, or poppy (poison). With water and due care the land will produce in abundance. But remember the land will return what you sow. As you sow, so shall you reap!

The human mind is much more fertile and more powerful. It doesn’t care what you plant. Success or Failure. A concrete worthwhile goal or confusion/nothing.

Decide what you want. Plan your goal. Plant a seed of success. Work towards the goal. It only will, but no way it cannot. Lead a life of success  and like the laws of nature see yourself succeed.