Sowing the seeds of success

Perhaps nothing is more universally and keenly sought after than success and all that it implies. It’s, of course, common knowledge that success is invariably the result of untiring application and unrelenting hard work over a prolonged period of time, sometimes running into years. These are the widely tried and tested cornerstones of success. There are no short-cuts to it.

A burning and sustained desire to succeed in one’s specific pursuit is, no doubt, a great motivator that ensures one does it ultimately. However, to prematurely expect to be successful in one’s aspirations is unrealistic; for eventual success tastes sweetest only when tempered by initial, and sometimes repeated, failures and setbacks.

Unsurprisingly, success is known to be a harsh taskmaster, unfailingly exacting its “pound of flesh” — to use a metaphor — from all who seek it before ultimately smiling benignly on them. Sometimes, to one’s acute consternation, success tends to be maddeningly elusive or slow in coming despite one’s utmost and sincerest efforts to achieve it somehow. At such times, one often turns despondent and wonders whether the pursuit of success is really worthwhile. It is at such trying moments that one needs to persevere even more than ever despite all the odds heavily stacked against one. Success never comes easily. George Bernard Shaw once rightly observed that “Success covers a multitude of blunders.” Nothing could be truer. It is only by learning from our past mistakes — and those of others — that we can ultimately hope to gain success. American inventor Thomas Alva Edison termed genius nothing more than “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” — a sound definition that applies equally to success as well. More than anything else, it is unremitting hard work that eventually brings about success.

Of all its avatars, success in one’s chosen career or profession perhaps matters more to many of us than anything else. This is quite natural and only to be expected, given the keen — and sometimes cut-throat — competition we face in our working lives, making it imperative for one to excel in one’s calling and not be a mere passenger in an organisation. Ambition, of course, does spur one on to success finally.

It is said that one of the greatest pleasures in life lies in doing what others maliciously say you cannot do or is beyond you. Achieving truly hard-won success ultimately is thus one such cherished goal. Yet we often tend to evaluate success only in financial terms, overlooking the deep personal sense of satisfaction and achievement that suffuses one. Nothing is more fulfilling than the latter.

Without success — no matter how small — life would indeed be unacceptably insipid to the ambitious — and who isn’t these days? Undeniably, hard work and unflagging commitment (nay, passion) are the keystones that make for success in this fiercely competitive world. Merely wishing for it never ever helps. As American author Alexander Woollcott aptly put it, “Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have, if we didn’t spend half our time wishing.”

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