Success is Boring !

Dr Sumedha Kushwaha *

On the journey to success, ‘Motivation’ can do only 10% wonders. For a fact, the rest 90 % is done by ‘Discipline’. The Oxford Dictionary defines discipline as “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.” Sounds very school like ! Isn’t it ?

But unquestionably, success demands the highest form of discipline. When people become a master of any field, it is not just by chance. Everyone in life is lucky and unlucky at different times. What do you with that luck, those chances, opportunities-is what determines your destination. What is luck ?

In my opinion ‘luck is stumbling on an opportunity’. But there is a way you start stumbling more on opportunities-By actively engaging in your dream, to constantly think about your goal, you are bound to attract it in your life. That sounds like a knock on the door. The problem is only a few people respond to the knock with deep sincerity.

They surrender to this call with all their might. They work towards their goal with consistency and persistence. Hail or storm they keep putting one step in front of the other.

When other so called ‘unlucky’ people are relaxing in their bed, these people are already 4 hours in office. They work harder, try to empower more people, engage with better minds, make schedules, envision a better future and trust the Universe.

Discipline is consistently doing one thing which might be very boring or unentertaining over a course of time and doing it perfectly each time even when no one is watching. Years later when onlookers of success, who have missed seeing all the hard work in between-the coming to office before time, leaving from work the last, showing up for every single meeting, being formally dressed for each call, preparing a night before for the presentation and public events-no one notices that.

All they see is that- “stumbling block”, that “lucky event”. It is easy to be successful, it is difficult to maintain that position. It is simple to find passion, hard to be persistent with purpose.

Success is a very boring thing-once you reach there with a lot of hard work, you have to work even more harder to be there or even beat your goals. But this taste is the sweetest. No one stays with you in life-no family, friends, acquaintances, contacts-nobody.

What stays is the effort you put, the hard work, the lessons you learnt on the way, the messages you got from unknown people which became your Bible.

We all know how to work in the supervision under someone. But self-discipline calls for a will to perform on your own. When you are disciplined-your team, family, friends, children etc. all behave in accord. If you can’t train yourself to behave in a way you want, how can you train others to behave the way you want ? So, before pointing fingers at others-ask yourself can you do this ?

People usually want to reach the top, arrive at the pinnacle and apex of success. We do have to realize that this is like a ladder-you will have to climb every step. You can’t miss any of it. If you do miss it now-you will pay a price for it later. Because each step gives you a lesson, an experience which is of utmost importance. If you learn the lesson today-you make a mistake-the stakes are less.

Far ahead in the journey-if you make the same mistake-you will have to pay a bigger price. We all know the story of the tortoise and the rabbit- unfortunately it’s such a boring concept that we don’t want to acknowledge that truth.

However, the reality is that we need to take small baby steps each day, keep pressing forward no matter what’s the direction of the wind, take care of ourselves, timely adjust our sails, nourish ourselves with good food, exercise, positive thoughts, progressive company and hope.

Chance favors trained minds, when you work hard, the universe works harder for your success.