Resting on Your Laurels?
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 23 Mar 2010, 3:00 AM – 7 Comments
When you were first learning to walk, it was a treat for all the members in your family. Your took one step, tripped, fell down but you didn’t give up. You fell down many many times but nobody ever screamed at you for falling down.
One day, you stood again, took one step, wobbled and somehow you had the courage to take another step and soon voila – you were taking one step after the other. You were FINALLY walking. Your family around you were waiting for this moment and were jumping with joy when it finally happened.
A few years later you were walking everyday and nobody was even looking at you. In fact, when you tripped once in a while, you were screamed at – “Can’t you watch where you are going?”
What seemed like an accomplishment just a few years ago – nobody even bothered to look at today.
Most things in life are just that. When you achieve something, that looks big when that achievement happened. You can enjoy that glory for a while but you can’t rest on those laurels for a long time. You have to build on top of those achievements and make further progress.
You might ask, where does this end?
One achievement after another achievement. And another one. Then what?
Good question. Glad you asked.
At some point in time (hopefully soon) you will switch from achievement to contribution. If the earlier achievements provided you some fulfillment in your life, contributions are what will provide you meaning. The early achievements will provide you the foundation for more achievements and more achievements is what will provide you the foundation for contributions.
You will be the best judge when to switch your focus from achievement to contribution.
All the best.
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7 Comments so far, Add Yours
Venkk on March 23rd, 2010
Thanks for this very important message Rajesh. This is by far one of your most important post.
Few days before it occurred to me that “it is important that I focus on my mission not ambition”.
regards
venkk
Srinivas N Jay on March 23rd, 2010
Hi Rajesh,
“Achievements provided you some fulfillment in your life, contributions are what will provide you meaning”
Amazing thought!
Thanks a lot for sharing this with us.
Srinivas
QAspire Blog – Quality, Management, Leadership & Life! » Saturday High-Five: Posts I Loved Reading Last Week on March 26th, 2010
[…] Resting on Your Laurels? by Rajesh Setty In this short and profound post, Rajesh emphasizes that while your ‘achievements’ provide fulfillment in life, your ‘contributions’ provide meaning. Excellent Insight! […]
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Tanmay Vora on March 23rd, 2010
Brilliant representation of a very important thought.
In my view, you only have to decide once to switch to contribution cycle. The more you start contributing, more opportunities you create and hence more achievements.
Best,
Tanmay