November 21, 2007

Success cannot make you feel Successful

Feeling Successful is an emotion that is not really related to Success.

Consider that everyone in this world is running a race. Everyone is somewhere in the race. The beggars and homeless are somewhere towards the end, whereas the likes of Bill Gates and Ophra Winfrey are somewhere towards the front. You are also somewhere in the race, running and trying to move ahead of those in front of you.

Also, consider that everyone is suffering from myopia. Therefore, no matter where you are in the race, you can only see 5 people ahead of you and 5 people behind you. A small shop owner somewhere in the line can only see and compare with similar 5 people ahead, and 5 people behind. This shop owner cannot even see Bill Gates or Ophra Winfrey. If the shop owner moves ahead, he would have a different set of 5 people ahead and 5 people behind to compare with. Similarly, a multi-millionaire somewhere in the race can see and compare himself only with 5 similar multi-millionaires ahead and 5 behind.

People continuously move ahead or behind in the race. Their position keeps changing with successes and failures in their own lives and in the lives of others. However, no matter where they are, their position remains the same from their own perspective. There are always 5 more successful people ahead, and 5 less successful people behind.

2 comments:

Anne said...

.....except that your basic premise is wrong, life is not a race.

Aseem said...

Hi Anne, I agree life is not a race. In fact it is not possible to define what is life. There are multiple perspectives of life. life being a race it one such perspectives, which helps in understanding some aspects of it.
Some other perspectives of life that I personally like are, life is a journey, life is a game, life is an opportunity, life is an illusion.......

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