The Dilemma of being successful

Amit Chakraborty (26) works as a sales executive in a private organization in New Delhi. He kicked off his career by choosing science in the eleventh grade with intentions of pursuing engineering. However, when Amit reached twelfth grade, he realized that engineering is for smart people and was out of bounds for him. 

After managing to score respectable marks in his twelfth board exams, Amit decided to shift streams and took to B.A.(hons) in English with the intention of becoming a journalist. After his graduation, Amit started preparing for masters in communication. However, after failed attempts in all the major universities, he appeared for a common aptitude test for admission into masters of business administration courses. 

Amit got an average score, which allowed him to get admission in a not-so-great private university. For the next two years, Amit had to live in a hostel, as a result of which he lost all his hair. He got a second division in his masters.

Three years after his post-graduation, Amit works as a sales executive. Amit is now a rowdy uncle who is completely dissatisfied with whatever his life is offering him. He does not have a great salary and is working under twenty other people. It should also be noted that Amit is now bald, fat and has no girlfriend.

Many of us have very similar stories. It is only possible that ours is not as evident as Amit’s.

We choose what we want to be; we choose what we want to do. We are born ambitious. But somehow along the way, we get scared, distracted by what the outcome may bring to us.

What if Amitabh Bachchan had quit acting and opened up a call center? What if Sachin Tendulkar quit cricket to become a MBA? What if Mark Zuckerberg was a ballet dancer? 

These are some questions that will always remain unanswered. But one thing is for sure, if Amitabh Bachchan or Sachin Tendulkar or Mark Zuckerberg were not who they are today, the world wouldn’t be the same place.

Albert Einstein didn’t know how to dance. Isaac Newton didn’t know how to act. William Shakespeare didn’t know how to paint.

The only thing that one can gather from these great personalities is the focus they had in their lives.

No profession is small or big. It is your dedication that decides if you will succeed. Changing streams is like climbing halfway up the mountain and then coming back down with the sound of a helicopter. It is just that the helicopter never comes to pick you up and you have to climb the mountain all over again. 

If we live our lives like soccer balls, and aim ourselves at two different goals, we are bound to deflate at the end of the game. Live your life like a cricket stump. You are in the game even though you are bound to get knocked over a couple of times. At the end, the winner takes you home.