Journey Towards Excellence
Sometimes we pursue careers, we have no talent for. Having plunged into it headlong, we think we’ll finally become a ‘Superstar’ ! And when we don’t. the situation becomes sore and discomforting. Many students have gone through this before we find a field that finally suits us and allows us our talent to show. For example, many who pursue CS may later feel that they should have in fact pursued for CA. They later change their course and become successful Chartered Accountants.
Thus, for personal growth and utility value, you must find where your talent lies and what your limitations are.
First, draw a line between the things you can and cannot do. Then focus your efforts on developing the things you are capable of doing. As you grow in skill and talent your limitations will shrink.
If you are pursuing a professional course such as CA, CS or ICWA, and you have a bad memory, don’t despair. Accept the fact and put more effort into it.
Edison had a very poor memory-especially in his youth. At school he forgot everything he was taught, and he was always at the bottom of his class. He drove his teachers to despair. They declared he was retarded. He attended school for only 3 months, after that his mother taught him at home. Later in life, Edison developed a remarkable memory for scientific data.
A little effort and proper guidance can draw you away from the frustration of your inabilities or oddities. We all have some talent in one thing or another. Finding it and developing it will definitely help to build a positive image of yourself.
Socrates was ugly yet his wisdom more than compensated for his poor looks. Thus, developing one’s mind overshadows one’s physical frailties. The lustre of knowledge leaves a dazzling impression upon those who come to hear you.
Stephen Hawking is one of the world’s greatest theoretical physicists. He is the Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge, a seat once occupied by Sir Issac Newton. Since his early 20’s he has suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a progressive deterioration of the central nervous system that usually causes death within 3-4 years. Hawking’s illness has advanced more slowly, and now seems almost to have stabilized. Still, it has robbed him of virtually all movement. He has no control over most of his muscles, cannot dress or eat by himself and needs round the clock nursing care.
In 1985 Hawking nearly suffocated during a bout of pneumonia. He was given a tracheotomy that enabled him to breathe. The operation saved his life but silenced his voice. Now he ‘speaks’ only by using the slight voluntary movement left in his hands and fingers to operate his wheelchair’s built in computer and voice synthesizer.
While ALS has made Hawking a virtual prisoner in his own body, his intellect roams freely from the infinitesimal to the infinite, from the subatomic realm to the far reaches of the universe. In the course of these mental expeditions, Hawking has conceived startling new theories about black holes and the tumultuous events that immediately followed the Big Bang from which scientists believe the universe came into being. Through his prodigious intelligence, he has won the admiration and respect of students, professors and residents of Cambridge.
Kip Thorne, a famous Caltech physicist says, “I would rank him besides Einstein, as the best in our field.”
Developing one’s better capabilities eclipses one’s shortcomings. Inspite of a poor or medium academic record, excelling in a sport or whatever can put you in the spotlight of public admiration. The same applies if you are poor in sports but intelligent in academic matters. By developing your advantages you soar to success and shadow your incapabilities or shortcomings.
Let me end my article by adding an incidence from Bruce Lee’s life.
Once the martial artist was having breakfast with one of his students. The student, in his mid-forties, was down-hearted after an unsatisfying practice performance. He felt he was too old and his body too stiff to achieve any real ability in Jeet-kune-do.
What Bruce Lee answered him should be inscribed in our minds. He said :
“You will never learn anything new unless you are ready to accept yourself with your limitations. You must accept the fact that you are capable in some directions and limited in others, and you must develop your capabilities.”
I hope that this article will motivate lakhs of students and professional members of this esteemed club to recognise their true potential and strive for it.
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