Don’t give up, you are closer to your goal than you realise

Anything worthwhile accomplishing is bound to be fraught with glitches, temporary setbacks, hurdles and challenges. It is never a smooth and easy ride. It is worth keeping this in mind whenever we are tempted to give up after a few tries.

Take the Chandrayaan 2 mission when the Vikram lander lost contact with ISRO. It was a case of so near, yet so far. Within 2.1 kms of landing on the Moon and this had to happen. The nation was agog with excitement, yet that one step proved elusive. But all is not lost. The next time our scientists armed with the information as to what went wrong will surely overcome this and make history again.

The point is we need to bounce back after a setback and not completely give up. Setbacks are meant to make one stronger and better prepared. They are there for a purpose. Remember the story of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots and the spider. When he was hiding in a cave and his spirits were down, it was the spider whom he watched, spinning her web, never giving up in the face of challenges and misses, who inspired him to fight the English.

Remember what Thomas Alva Edison had to say about inventing the light bulb and the ‘failures’ he encountered on the way. “I have not failed I just found 10,000 ways thatwouldn’t work.” Likewise legendary sportsman Michael Jordan, once confessed, “I’ve missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed many times in my life and that is why I succeed.”

In a day and age of instant gratification and short attention spans, we want things at the speed of thought, we crave instant rewards. A smart young child whom I know, is very good with jigsaw puzzles, loses heart the first time he attempts a new one. Frustration sets in, he loses his cool and gets anxious that he is not able to crack it as fast ashe wants to.

Somethings are meant for the long haul. We need tocultivate patience, persistence, a sense of calm and tenacity to hang in there even when the chips are down withoutlosing heart. Sometimes all it takes is a good night’s rest or perhaps a short break away from the task on hand to come back to it with renewed determination and focus or some serious introspection.

Giving up is the easiest thing to do. But we don’t perhaps realise how close we are to achieving our purpose if we persist at that very moment. As an old Chinese proverb says, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. And if one may add many steps after that, the secret is to stay the course and enjoy the journey and the process.