Every story of success is ...

  

          When did you decide to try for civil services? I asked the young, handsome IPS officer by whose side I was seating. I was on an official work and was asked to accompany him to a programme. Travelling by police TATA Sumo in the scorching heat of Chandrapur in April on way to Gadchandur I broke into conversation with this opening question. He started sharing his story. A graduate of electronics engineering he was working in a multinational company with a package of 12 lakhs. One day he discovered that the job was not for him. More than the professional that probably was inner call. He decided to try for civil services. Quit the job and started preparation. Presuming an obvious rejection of the idea of appearing for civil services he didn’t inform parents. When he cleared written examination and was to appear for interview he broke the news to them. That attempt proved to be a learning experience. He became IPS in second attempt. Amazing story indeed, I asked leaving a job in MNC with good package was a big decision, packed with risk. He said that you had to take risk. That was the sacrifice I had to make. Then he came up with an insightful statement, he said, “Every success story is a story of sacrifices.”

       A precise description of success. In the glitter of success we see the faces, we presume the hard work, sound faculty, intellectual prowess but hardly think about the sacrifices. Looking at success as a story of sacrifices is a wonderful as well as insightful way to understand it. Hearing that line 5 to 6 years have passed but it has left an indelible mark on my mind. This has helped me understand success stories better. The hard work is the foundation of any success but often ignored is the story of hard work. A closer examination of hard work reveals a mountain of sacrifices. We can always get the complete chronicle of hard work often leaving us awestruck by the amount of efforts put in but if you want to feel it you have to explore the sacrifices. Once we start looking at story of success as a story of sacrifices and we are able to divide it in small achievable steps it becomes easier for us to explore the story closely and understand it. Whether scoring a century in a cricket match or clearing civil services or any competitive examination we have to break it into small pieces.

         Talk to achievers they will share the secret how they planned study for every day and remained consistent. When the hard work is broken into small steps it looks simple and achievable. When a small goal which is part of the bigger goal is achievable or so we feel, it boosts confidence. When we hear this story of a step a day towards the goal we sense the ease of achieving success. The simplicity of the approach makes us overlook the challenge. The challenge is of taking a step a day, every day without fail over a long period. Consistency is the challenge. It is not difficult to plan a step a day but consistency is the real ordeal and it writes the story of sacrifices. If every small step counts then every small sacrifice counts equally. In fact for every small step a small mundane sacrifice is needed. That small insignificant sacrifice becomes an inseparable part of the bigger picture.  In reality it gradually paints the bigger picture.

          Plan is to wake up early morning at 5.00 am and start study by 5.30 am. Simple step to take. But doing it every day means you who normally wake up at 7.00 am begin a day with a sacrifice of 2 hours sleep. Easy for a day but doing it every day for one year needs uncompromising commitment to one small step. When we don’t want to compromise we have to give up something. Just imagine number of sleep hours one would forgo if the plan is executed with commitment for one year. A closer look at small 2 hours sacrifice reveals another sacrifice; you cannot watch movies or involve in gossip, chat with your friends late into night. Else it becomes difficult to wake up at 5 am early morning. So you have to give up highly tempting entertainment, enticing gossip. It seems undemanding but it is testing. If we start figuring out plan for the whole day it just becomes compilation of number of small sacrifices we have to make every day.

       Over a long period of time in a developing success story then develops a hidden story of sacrifices. The earlier you begin better it is for the size of the step and the demand of sacrifice escalate exponentially if you lose time. The moment you fix your target the timer starts ticking. With every wasted tick the size of the step increases and so also the amount of sacrifice it requires. Those who seek self-deceiving comfort in available time often get a rude awakening desisting them sometimes from taking a serious attempt at the goal. They often surrender to the huge step size and colossal sacrifice demanded by it. Interestingly those who waste time initially after fixing the target expose their weakness of succumbing to temptations and physical comfort. It is a ticking timer the earlier you realize the better it is to write a tale of triumph. Rest assured there always will be conditions beyond your control sucking time reserved by you. So it is never too early to begin but it could be too late anytime.    

        Whether civil services, competitive examinations, acquiring skills or losing weight or any other examination the success story is made up of loyalty to a step a day and veiled sacrifices to take this step.  The loyalty to one step has to defeat the all powerful temptation of amusement and the attachment to physical comfort. The message is simple if you want to write your own success story first you have to script your story of sacrifices. And never forget the timer is ticking…   

        ** Image credit - videoblocks.com