free your mind

"Winners don't do different things. They do things differently."
- Shiv Khera

The other day I was chatting with one of my school classmates, just catching up with our lives in general. I hadn't seen him in years and we were comparing notes on different things: At one point the discussion turned to success. We discussed about how there is a perception [not necessarily false] that after the age of Thirty - it gets more difficult to become successful.

There is nothing new about this – it is something that has been expounded at length by various ‘experts’ and there is a kernel of truth to it. As you grow older, you carry a larger emotional baggage, are less willing to risk whatever that you had build up at that point and probably have dependents that rely on you to put food on the table.

All of that not withstanding – there are many people that have started doing something meaningful with their lives at even later stages. Think of the Fifty year old lady that decides to take up a new language [say Chinese] and maybe how to play the Piano, well because she has always been interested in that language, and never got around to learning it and also thinks it would be swell to be able to play a musical instrument decently enough to entertain herself. Modest goals. But if she were to put in a few hours a week for the next decade or so – she would even probably surprise herself with how far she has accomplished.

But you might say – that kind of person is an exception. Not everyone could persevere and triumph. True I say. But just pause to think - every successful person you see on earth - is an exception. They are people that beat the odds and made something of their lives: The rest of the masses are just sheep. The question is do you want to be a sheep? Nobody does, I suppose but how many of us are willing to go that extra mile to get out of the rat race?

All we have to do is be that old lady. All we have to do actually is just try a little harder than the rest and already we will be ahead. Of course the more effort you put into activities that keep you sharp, the more you use time as what it is – an $86,400 Bank Deposit that carries over no balance from day to day – the more likely you are to get ahead.

So to all my chums out there – there is time yet to make something of your lives. Seize the moment and make something of it. Let us sign a pact and promise ourselves that we shall make something of ourselves, that we shall make our mark yet! Let us revisit this moment a decade hence and rejoice – I toast to our collective future successes.