Hard work does not always equal success

Reuters photo

By

Siddhartha Rastogi

Just don’t try too hard!

Let me start this article using something from your life.

How many times has it been the case that you have been trying hard to write an article, finish a job, repair something, complete a PowerPoint presentation or just to get a bright idea or even inspiration to do something? Days and weeks pass, nothing happens and one fine day, you get out of your bed and finish ten things in a row which have been pending for the last quarter or so.

It happens with all of us, time and again because human beings like to do things repeatedly that they enjoy.

Let’s shift our focus for a little while from hard work to Success.

What does success really mean?

You and Only You can define what success means to YOU.

For someone, success can be winning a transaction, getting promotion, getting a raise or bonus, achieving a milestone, acquiring some assets or good health, etc. For others, it may be recognition by people around you for the value system, for the wealth created, for the business built, for the contribution to the society or nation building activity.

Few believe if they are spread over media and news channels, they are successful. Thus recognition, publicity, visibility and success in today’s age are used as synonyms by many.

Success in itself is nothing but reaching a destination one has set for himself or herself.

It quite resonates with the dictionary definition which states “accomplishment of an aim or purpose”.

The trouble starts when Success is compared or evaluated against someone. The universe has made every human being different with different thoughts, different aptitude, different attitude, different bodies and different abilities. When two individuals on this planet are completely different then logically their definition of success for themselves should also be different.

But we being social animals wish to fit in the rules and customs of society. In the process we adopt or accept the definition which is defined by the masses or by the groups and treat that as the final word of God.

Let me enumerate this by using a simple example. In Bihar, a northern state of India, clearing public civil servant examinations means success; hence an athlete winning a medal in Asian games hailing from Bihar will not treat himself as successful since the society around him has defined success in a particular manner.

More often than not, if we keep pursuing things which we don’t like, we don’t enjoy and which we pursue due to social or parental pressure will lead to burnout.

In these cases efforts are disproportionately higher than the outcome and one keeps working harder and harder in the hope of arriving at social success. Eventually when one stops enjoying the work, profession or area one has chosen and is driven by pressure, results are surely disastrous.

On the other hand, where one enjoys every minute of work, one is doing, the journey itself becomes so rewarding that the dream of this milestone and its relation with definition of success becomes immaterial. Take the case of Formula One drivers, for them driving is not a sports or something to win, but it’s a way of life. They see a car and they love driving, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a part of travel or part of their sporting competition.

Thus the key here is to know, understand and acknowledge your own personal liking and follow that path. Success in such a scenario is really not far-fetched and not that hard as everyone preaches.

Siddhartha Rastogi

Siddhartha was born to a learned middle class educated family in Semi Urban India. His father was an extremely honest man who because of his honesty had to pay the price in corporate world. Mother is a determined woman who ensured that children are being well taken care off. After a few years of birth, doctors called Siddhartha, a slow child having flat foot. He would fall more than he could walk. Determined mother ensured all therapies for her son to come out strong to fight the world. Siddhartha joined swimming when he was in 6th standard. Seeing other children of his class, he jumped in 10 feet deep pool and learnt swimming on his own, the very same day.

From that day there was no looking back. He topped his city in 12th and went to score highest in his B school exams. During his profession as banker, he became youngest branch manager of a MNC bank managing their biggest wealth branch in the country. There he found love of his life and got married. His love of his life emerged in the form of his daughter who completely changed him for good.

Siddhartha Rastogi is Director for a boutique Investment bank in India.

Siddhartha is a forward looking thinker & writer who has written a book on decision making. 8 Simple steps to effective decision making.

He writes on various social and current issues via his blog and can also be found on twitter.