It is said, dreams are not those that you see in your sleep. Dreams are those that do not let you sleep.
And among those dreams, get created are the seeds of ambition, the drive to succeed. It has often been noted, that people giving up striving, just before they are about to hit success. It is like climbing a mountain, and giving up just before you reach the peak. Sometimes it was just around the corner, but you gave up.
There can be many reasons why one would do this.
Reality Check
People set out with a dream to achieve, yet reality turns out to be very different after one gets started. It can be daunting, dissatisfying and unyielding. There are everyday tasks which need to be taken care of, which are not exciting, greatly routine yet important.
Procrastination
Mundane tasks will take you into a journey of procrastination. The drive from inspiration quickly dwindles as you start putting off tasks to complete until tomorrow. That tomorrow never comes.
Interesting Alternatives
When boredom takes you down, you start to seek interesting alternatives. Very often, these interesting alternatives will derail you from what you need to do, and you will lose focus.
Urgent Tasks
As things unfold, urgent tasks take priority. You are often pulled away from key activities that require your attention. The aim of your endeavours does not understand this.
Lack of Visible Progress
When you are climbing the mountain, all you see in front of you is the uphill incline. It seems like the journey is never going to end. If one attempts to look back at the distance you have come, fear will overpower you, almost like vertigo, for you have come a long way. You would not like to look back, but you are still not able to feel the progress.
However, you have been climbing. You have been crossing milestones, and building upon the roots that create a solid foundation. You know you are not superficial. And you need to remain motivated.
It’s lonely at the top
There are many ways to say this. And many reasons too. A very senior industry mentor once met me, and talked to me about taking decisions. All he advised me was to listen to my inner voice and act accordingly. You will take direction automatically.
Many will argue it was lonely along the journey. People did not walk with you. As a people’s person, you wanted to hold their hand and carry them along. Even at the cost of slowing down, you did not want to leave them behind. But not everyone has the energy to continue until success is reached. And they give up.
It is easy to be dissatisfied.
Your mind works consistently to find reason to be happy. If you become unhappy for whatever reason, you start to find alternatives that will give you quick returns to reach your goal. It will be very obvious that your vision and path do not concur. And that it’s not a suitable method to reach your goal. If you fall in the trap of seeking an alternative, that is when you quit.
I looked at statistics today, to search for the percentage of people who actually find energy to achieve what they set out to do. I always remember the quirky line we used to remember while measuring statistics for analytical studies. They used to say, “Statistics are like a mini-skirt. You use them to show what’s attractive and hide what is critical.”
Thus, even if you find that magic number, of people who are successful in achieving what they set out to achieve, you will want to be part of that magic number, and not part of the larger bell curve – where people give up and do not find energy to reach their goal.
You need to define your success parameters. How you will remain motivated towards the next steps that you need to take. You will need to understand what is the inspiration, what is the ultimate goal. Whether it is the creation of means or the progress of people that’s important for you. And these are not simple numbers. There are no correct answers for this. Fate will decide a lot for you.
You will strive. And the journey will continue…
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