Life146;s losers

There may be various ways to describe and success. It all depends on one8217;s own view of success. A poor man will think a rich man is a success.

There may be various ways to describe and success. It all depends on one8217;s own view of success. A poor man will think a rich man is a success. Most people measure success by accumulated material wealth. It does not really matter how they became rich.

People in power are considered to be successful as also people in senior positions in companies, elected political leaders and religious dignitaries. Normally, their success lasts as long they occupy the position. I reckon only 10 per cent of the population will fall into the above categories.

For the rest, it is difficult to set any sensible benchmark for success. Mr Shastri has put in 37 years of service in a post office. He worked diligently and was polite to customers. In a farewell speech, his boss said,8221;Shastri was a loyal worker.8221; Was Shastri a successful man? Sharma was a junior bank officer. He worked hard, bought a small flat, got his two daughters educated and married. Today he has retired and enjoys a peaceful life. Whenever he can help people, he does. Is he a failure?

Two young men with similar qualifications, Shankar and Nitin, joined an IT company at the same time. Shankar was ambitious, found ways to get around his bosses and got frequent promotions. Nitin too worked hard and believed on merit rather than flattery. In less than five years, Shankar became Nitin8217;s boss. Is Nitin unsuccessful?

It seems to me that if we had to select a single quality which is highly correlated to success it will be persistence. Thomas Edison said,8221;I have not failed. I have just found 10000 ways that won8217;t work. A failure is a man who has made mistakes but is not capable of cashing in on the experience. In fact, failure will not overtake us if our determination to succeed is strong enough. Failure is in a sense the highway to success.

It follows that we cannot be successful unless we are willing to take risks. Any successful man or company is riddled with failure. So when we come to a road block, we need to take a detour. A man may fall many times, but won8217;t be a failure until he says someone pushed him.

The journey towards success is more exciting than success itself. As Confucius said,8221;Our greatest glory is not in never failing but rising every time we fall.8221;