The Easy Way to Success Is Within Our Reach.

In my garden, every tree is different. I never asked a coconut tree, “why areyour fruit lesser than the mango tree?” If then, why do we compare ourselves with others ruthlessly?

The taste of the fruit, their numbers, and their shape and beauty are not a victory for a tree. Until death, a tree lives its life every day, every moment. It sings to the wind, dances, and creates a breeze.

Trees live in harmony with soil and water. It enjoys the four seasons and shows love and compassion to other lives with fruit, shelter, and more.

Trees live, but, are we?

What is success in life for us? We long misunderstood what competition is. It starts from childhood. We’ve been trained to run behind grades, haven’t we?

In my part of the world (I believe in many others), children are ranked by their exam scores. Naturally, we grew up thinking winning is scoring high. We compared ourselves with the highest-ranked student. If we are below average, it’s even worse. We started to run behind grades.

Now we run behind money and power — so greedy!

But wait; take a deep breath. Never forget to enjoy the beautiful things life offers you.

I’ve been watching a motivational speech from an Indian Teacher, Parveen Sultana. She says victory is not making it to the top. It’s about getting better every time. If you’ve got only 15 points where the topper’s score is 98, you don’t have to run behind him/her. Victory for you is scoring 17 or more in the next exam. Thank you, Parveen, for enlightening me.

We all live in between birth and death. No matter how fast or how slow you walk, the destination is always the same. No matter how crooked your path is, the end is the same. Then why should you compare yourself with others?

Compare yourself to who you were yesterday.

Why do we learn and how it helps us to find success in life?

I grew up studying restlessly. Only to realize real life begins after schooling. I’m glad that I learned to work hard but not for what I looked like.

Real learning is what is left after we forget all that we studied. What good is memorizing things just for the sake of spilling them in exams?

Schools should teach lessons for life and not what’s on books. They should nourish the child’s mind to make wise decisions in life independently. Extracurricular activities teach much about living rather than the syllabus.

For example, say a student studying hard to score in Health/Fitness related subject. He is studying without proper rest, sleep, and meals. Do you think the teacher will blame him after he scores the highest in the class? No. The school will appreciate him for the scores. It is true and not an exaggeration. It is happening in our surroundings. Scoring in health-related subjects without following wellness care should not promote. Likewise, every subject to be studied with the basic knowledge of why we learn that?. I hope you will agree with me.

At the same time scoring high could give the child status and recognition. Same for the teachers, and the school/college could rank better. But the children are learning to hack the system, not to be motivated by it. They know hacks to score more. Not necessarily do they develop skills to live successfully after college.

My humble opinion is that we should redesign our next generation to enjoy their real success rather than believe in the illusion. This is all our responsibility to save individuality with humanity.

Final Thoughts

We don’t have to allow the illusion of competition to torture us. Why trap yourselves in anxiety. Every man’s path is unique. If one goes off and takes the wrong way, we shall give hands. Praise otherwise.

Don’t follow anyone. Their destination/purpose may be different from yours. Learn from their experience. Have a vision of your destination. Live your short period on this planet. Success in life will follow you.

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Thank you for reading.

Note: This article is originally published in Medium.com