Over the last few weeks, Std X and Std XII results across various boards have been announced. As usual students all over have done very well, with many students scoring a full 100% as well, and 95-96% almost seeming like an underperformance!
At the risk of sounding a bit geriatric, it seems to me that while our times were reasonably high-scoring too (if am not wrong, my school topper in Std X got around 88-89%, and I was very happy to be in the same decile), in this generation, this scoring business has gone a bit too far. I would like to think that, beyond a certain point, how much you score doesn’t actually determine success in later life, and vice-versa. Also, this extreme focus on scoring in academics in the early years takes away from valuable life-skills and competencies that should be learnt or built, that, I can say, from experience, are likely to hold our children in greater stead in the later years.
But as is said, life is a race, and you have to run it, like it or not. It’s just that no one tells you what kind of race it is! And hence, despite our best efforts both during education and work, we aren’t adequately prepared for it!
Life in school and junior college seems like a 100-meters sprint, with everyone (well, it seems like nearly everyone nowadays!) scoring in the top few percentages (just like in a 100 mts race, where every finisher is within a few milli-seconds of each other).
And hence when we reach “real life”, ie. higher and post-education years, we are still prepared for a sprint and we get a rude shock when it starts resembling something completely different!
My take on this is that Life is actually a special kind of long-distance race because of the following two reasons.
One, like a steeple-chase, there are some reasonably-heighted thresholds that one needs to get past. Beyond a point, how high you jump doesn’t matter, as long as you cross the thresholds.
These thresholds are personal performance as well as personal skills related, ie. making sure that you do reasonably well in your education and initial corporate life, including learning the necessary life-skills. Eg. good performance in your major exams, landing a good job, getting the right breaks at work, building the right professional skill-sets, etc.
Like in a race, success is about making sure that one doesn’t trip on these thresholds. Else, the race in future can have various handicaps.
Two, like in a long-distance race, while all are running, each is running at a different pace, and after a time not running together at all. The race also has a bit of trail thrown in, where one can get lost for a while, in search of directions! Importantly, after a point, each one is running his or her own race, trying to do as best as possible.
Like all races, this one too is a success only if you finish it. The unique thing about this race is that one can determine where is the “finish line” and plan for it. In a way, everyone has his or her own finish line, which they have the freedom of deciding, and which then, they have to reach.
Reaching your finish line successfully means that you have gained financial independence and have the freedom to retire, to do what you love with your time, to follow your passions.
The key to winning your own race is to identify your finish line well in time, having a plan to run this race well, including for any unplanned detours on the trail, and reaching your finish line in good shape, feeling happy that you could actually run a couple of miles more!
So, do you know your finish line? What and where is it? If you do, then do you have a plan to reach it in good shape? And if you still have a good bit of the race to go, are you prepared for the thresholds that will come your way?
Photo by Jenny Hill on Unsplash.com
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