Be a Bird that chisels a Diamond Mountain

Preface

The title might be confusing to most readers, and so, I felt obligated to write a preface for the same. In my quest to find a perfect quote for an essay on "Perseverance", I stumbled on this little pot of gold from my favorite show 'Doctor Who'.

Once there was an emperor, and he asks this shepherd's boy, "How many seconds in eternity?" And the shepherd's boy says, "There's this mountain of pure diamond. It takes an hour to climb it, and an hour to go around it! Every hundred years, a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on the diamond mountain. And when the entire mountain is chiseled away, the first second of eternity will have passed!" You must think that's a hell of a long time. Personally, I think that's a hell of a bird.

It was so perfect in the way that it bore the entire topic in a few sentences. So, I centered my essay around it rather than the topic-to-be.

Essay

One September afternoon, four years ago, while I was visiting my expecting mother, I stopped en route when I came across the hospital nursery. “There they slept blissfully, our bright future”, I would think to myself glancing at the babies. The thought of “some becoming successful and some ending up homeless” had once crossed my mind. It may seem sinister, but back then, it was amusing to speculate. Now, this may barely look like a start for an essay, but it got me to think - “What determines success? Why would some rise, defying all odds, and why would the others not?”

Before we explore the issue, we must understand the concept of success. We hold contrasting opinions for development and progress, and it is crucial to respect others’ perceptions of the same. Success is nothing more than a social construct, made to discourage visionaries from achieving the implausible. We cannot focus on the Elon Musks, the Oprahs and the Sandbergs and copy their actions. To do the opposite would be the equivalent of assuming every human is the same and carries the aspirations. For the same reason, it is an unrealistic approach as success is neither replicable nor does it come with a handbook. Having said so, we can now attempt to understand the perplexity of success.

We, humans, thrive on the prospect of being successful and in doing so, we often overlook the hazards lying in our path. We set targets and strive to achieve them right away, but we are human and more often than not, fall short on those goals. So, to unravel the enigma we call success, we must conceptualize this very idea. Despite the prevalent notion, we cannot visualize success as a straight line. Ironically, it is a winding road, one riddled with defeat. Defeat and triumph are two sides of the same coin. Many may fail or get lost in their way. Some may be content with their broken present and remain ignorant of their destined future.

Defeat is inevitable. Necessarily, the best entrepreneurs are not those who throw in the towel when the first hint of adversity blocks their way. We cannot copy the paths of entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Sheryl Sandberg, to name a few, but we can learn from their experiences, failures and triumphs. They have proved time after time that success demanded persistence and grit. They could have lamented upon facing defeat, but rather, they stared into the face of adversity with equanimity and gave their best for years on end. We can infer that to bring about success, persistence in this race to succeed is needed. To quote Sumner Redstone, “Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure”. Hence, the real test of character is not the outcome of an event, but instead, the choices made after encountering defeat.

Another approach to this same inference would be to examine those who already achieved the sweet fruit of their endeavors. People, from all disciplines like literature, pop-culture, sports, politics, among others, had reached impressive heights, even when it seemed absurd. They deal with the same dilemma: to settle or to persevere. The latter takes one to greater heights and the former to nowhere. A more natural way to visualize it would be to imagine it as the blue and red pills from the blockbuster, The Matrix (1999). The red and blue pill represents a choice between taking either a “red pill” that reveals an unpleasant truth or taking a “blue pill” to remain in blissful ignorance. So the simple answer to what those individuals did that set them apart from the rest is that they took the red pill; the red pill, here, representing the choice of persevering.

Upon acknowledging the variability of success, its winding path, the inevitability of defeat, and the dilemma of settling or persevering, we come closer to finally unraveling the secrets of success. We subconsciously know this secret, but fail to recognize it, adopt it or both. The cornerstone of success is this idea that if you just don’t quit, eventually you’ll reach where you wanted to go. It goes by the name of perseverance or grit. The intriguing bit is despite knowing success requires the ability to persevere, we choose not to. We, humans, have gathered supreme knowledge from millenniums of existence, and yet, wish to remain oblivious of some facts. Despite being aware of our mortality, we trust in repetition and choose not to seize the day. Similarly, despite knowing the importance of perseverance, we decide not to push ourselves to the limit.

This information may seem trivial but in reality, accepting this is vital. We know that people are aware of the significance of perseverance but unwilling to adopt it in their lives. What differentiates those who embrace it and those who do not? As it turns out, people with dreams are the ones who refuse to quit. More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle advised his students, “First, have a definite, clear, practical ideal – a goal, an objective.” People persevere when they believe in an ideal. But, people are more likely to give it all when the subject is something more deep-rooted, say their dreams and aspirations. Aspirations are the answer to the question, what is the purpose of life? Ambitions give meaning to the innocent human and drive him towards distinction.

Quoting A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, “Dream is not that which you see while sleeping, it is something that does not let you sleep.” Kalam, himself, faced difficulties in achieving his childhood dream to launch a rocket to space. However, after years of perseverance, he met his goal and earned much fame and respect. Similarly, Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan stood against a brutal regime which destroyed schools and prohibited girls from attending classes. Because of Malala’s activism, in 2012, there was an attempt on her life. Nonetheless, she continued her activism, as a result of which she has won countless awards and prizes, organized the Malala Fund to help girls get an education and in 2014, became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate. People like A.P.J Kalam, Malala Yousafzai, among others, prove that despite their humble origins, anyone can fulfill their aspirations.

Studies showing that people who have passion and perseverance in what they do are more likely to be successful in life have verified this opinion. Dr. Angela Duckworth is the leading researcher on this study of “Grit”. In Dr. Duckworth’s book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, she describes perseverance as “sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Having a zest for life, in general, may let you be more likely to become successful in life. One must simple develop true passion, say, for instance, Edison’s wish to light up the world. He succeeded, be it after 1000 attempts, he called “thousands of ways not to create a light bulb.” Summing up, you can improve your chances of being successful if you can follow your dreams, passions or aspirations.

Having analyzed the inevitability of defeat, the variability of success, and the importance of dreams and aspirations, we have unraveled the secret of success. What happens next is left to you. You could take the “blue pill” and remain oblivious of this secret, and live your monotonous life without realizing your dreams. Or, you could take the “red pill” and set aims based on your aspirations, and pursue them till you accomplish them. Either way, you are faced with a dilemma of settling or persevering. In the immortal words of the Star Wars Jedi Master Yoda, “Do or do not. There is no try.”