Wake up I - What are you waiting for? Live your dream…

 

Successful people are born with special brains and exceptional talent is what many say. There is no quote better to contradict this statement than one from a Spanish violinist, "For 37 years I've practiced 14 hours a day, and now they call me a genius".

 

People might dismiss Lance Armstrong's seven consecutive Tour de France (one of the most grueling cycling competitions covering over 3000 kms in 23 days) wins saying, "He is a born athlete". But do you know that he practiced every year for six months non-stop prior to that race? And then people might say, "Hey, he was gifted specially". But do you know that those seven victories came after he survived a battle with cancer. And do you know he now says, "Cancer was the best thing that happened to me".

 

One of our own champions Viswanathan Anand practices for six hours or more per day even though he is the numero uno in chess! So if you have a dream then start pursuing it - little by little you'll ultimately get there. Even if you don't, you'll have the satisfaction of having tried and not the haunting guilt of having given up even before the match started.

 

J.K Rowling began writing the first Harry Potter book in 1990 and completed it only after five years. The script was rejected by 12 publishers; "the rest is history"!

 

Go on – follow your dream; if you don't start now you never will.

 

Wake up II - Oh; how wretched my life is

 

Feel that your life is miserable; feel you are in the worst situation possible with no light in sight? Try this…

Close your ears and feel the sound of silence. Then close your eyes and experience the darkness. Now imagine having to live life in this condition…

Frightening? Open your eyes and ears; Go on, try it for a minute and see…

Doesn't it feel your miseries are nothing compared to that?

 

Everyone must have heard of this little deafblind girl who graduated from college. She learnt to speak; learnt to read Braille in multiple languages and became a very popular speaker in US and abroad. She traveled to over 30 countries in her lifetime. And the girl you must have guessed by now is Helen Keller.

 

There was an incident where a person told Helen about having returned from a walk. When asked on what the person saw while walking, the reply was, "Nothing special". And then Helen asked how could there be nothing special. Trees, plants, flowers, birds, insects, people – there were so many wonderful sights and sounds to be experienced; how can there be nothing special in a walk?

If someone was able to overcome such harsh difficulties and succeed in life then we also certainly can overcome the 'wretchedness' we feel. When you hit on bad times think of those less fortunate than you (there are even many around you like that), strengthen yourself and face the problem.

 

Enjoy live and keep smiling.

---

 

Wake up III - it's boring!

"Oh come on...the same monotonous coding; how many more years should I sit coding?", many people within the first three years of programming ask!

Spare a thought to Bill Gates – yes; a very very rich man and great marketing guy is what might come to mind first; he was good in marketing but there was more to it than just marketing; you need a product to market. Not many people think of Bill Gates as a programmer but even after founding Microsoft (which was originally Microcomputer Software and then Micro-soft and finally Microsoft), Gates examined every line of code and more often than not would work on the code himself. Ten years down the line and he was still involved in reviewing designs that the programming team came up with;just imagine – here is a guy who has become billionaire at age 30 and even after that was still reviewing and questioning program specifications! No cribbing, no excuses! Yes, he was CEO of a company but he wasn't born CEO.

CEO is still far off for us perhaps, but if one always keeps cribbing now, then how do you expect them to change overnight when at a higher position? Jack Welch, of GE fame (known for having groomed numerous Fortune 500 leaders when CEO in GE) said, "A person who only complains will never climb up in life".

Every one has cribs, every one is frustrated with something or the other but cribbing alone is not going to take us anywhere. Look around you and you'll find both categories of people – the exclusive cribbers and the ones who crib but still do their work with utmost diligence – you know which group eventually wins.

Go on; do your best and leave the rest.