A sad loss
It
is a sad thing to look at the news channels today to see that one of
the most inspiring men india has ever seen is no more. The man and his
achievements speak for themselves. It has always been a delight to hear
his speeches, read about him. The spark in him has ignited so many minds
that it is impossible to pay a true homage to such a personality.
Having
said that, a personality might pass but his thoughts, principles and
ideas live long, live so long that they become parts of our personality
and our thoughts. What better respect can we give this man than living
up to the ideals he shared and helped us rethink our lives in a fresher
way. Its a sad loss today but the man lives along, in you, in me and in
us. Here is a collection of his powerful quotes and their meaning,
interpretation for our lives.
Abdul Kalam : The Missile Man Of India
Abdul
Kalam, the scientist, president, an aerospace Engineer – popularly
called the Missile Man of India is no wonder an inspiration to millions
of Indians spread across the world. The winner of Bharat Ratna – India’s
highest civilian honor is most popular for his interaction with the
student community. I guess there are very few people who retain the
child in them as they grow. Here is one man who has grown not inspite of
the child like qualities but because of them. Here is a collection of
15 realistic quotes from Abdul Kalam.
Dream, Dream Dream, Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in action.
It
is very conflicting when someone uses the word dreams – they seem to be
so cliched these days – especially with the amount of fantasy added to
them. Having said that, I would be foolish to look at the idea of a
dream lightly.
It
was the dream of the wright brothers which make us fly today, it was
the dream of cavemen which made us enjoy cooked food. I am sure at some
point every little thing we do today might have felt unreasonably
impossible for someone else generations together and they would have
killed to have what we do today.
Maybe
it makes sense to appreciate that and look at our dreams a little
closer for these are the very precious ones which define us, enable us
and push us to make them come true. For we all are here for that one
dream – the dream to make our opportunities and our lives count! And
before we part to the next quote, we leave you with a question –
Are you living your childhood dreams?
Dreams are not those which comes while we are sleeping, but dreams are those when u don’t sleep before fulfilling them.
There
sure seems to be a lot of misconception when it comes to dream. And
somehow in the parlance dreams seem to have taken a backstage, playing a
lighter role.
But
truth is – a dream is much more than that. As kalam says – it is not
those dreams which make us dormant that count. We keep having those
everyday and we don’t even remember most of them. But there are those
few things which really define us – make us realize who we are really
passionate about and what we are willing to stand up for.
This
is my belief: that through difficulties and problems God gives us the
opportunity to grow. So when your hopes and dreams and goals are dashed,
search among the wreckage, you may find a golden opportunity hidden in
the ruins.
We
all hate our difficulties and challenges. I haven’t met many people who
are excited at the sight of trouble, and I am no different either. But
beyond all these challenges – there is a hidden message, sometimes a
test to see how badly you want something and sometimes just a signal to
alter the route you have followed so far.
But
it is true that each of these challenges come with a purpose -a single
purpose to help you achieve and realize your destiny. We can either let
them have a strong impact on us, be completely overwhelmed by them and
stop.
Or
– We can stand our ground – tell ourselves or rather prove to ourselves
that we are stronger than these challenges and like kalam says – give
ourselves an opportunity to identify the gold hidden in the ruins.
Difficulties
in your life do not come to destroy you, but to help you realize your
hidden potential and power, let difficulties know that you too are
difficult.
This
quote seems very similar to the one above depicting the reason, purpose
and the path for these difficulties in life. They either make us or
break us – this is what most people are going to tell you.
But
difficulties alone don’t make us or break us – it is simply us who do
that. We define what those difficulties mean to us. We define how much
impact they are going to have on our lives and we alone determine the
course these difficulties take.
We
can do the easier action of finding someone to blame it on – most times
it is Luck, the theologists say it is god while the fatalists say it is
fate. But a simple man says – it is an aberration and we need to find a
way around it. What do you think?
All
birds find shelter during a rain. But Eagles avoid rain by flying above
the clouds. Problems are common, but attitude make the difference.
Every
one of us faces problems in life and each of these problems are unique
in their own way – their appearance, impact and the solutions too.
As
Kalam says – The majestic eagle finds its way to the top of the clouds.
So if you want a solution similar to the eagle you must ask the eagle.
The sparrow can only advice you to hide and even if it asks you to cross
over the clouds you would rarely want to believe a sparrow cos it has
never done it. In other words the sparrow lacks credibility.
So, be careful about who you go to for advice. There are the
6 peculiar people who advice you, but
only you get to decide what you do with the advice. Some of it needs to
be taken seriously, and some – not at all. Be clever – be the master of
your own destiny.
Failure will never overtake me if my definition to succeed is strong enough.
Ask
every underachiever in life the reason behind his failure. Most of them
seem to have some excellent stories. As Jordan Belfort says – “The only
thing standing between you and your success is the bullshit story as to
why you can’t have it”.
We
need to realize this one truth – No one really cares why you didn’t do
something. The reasons we give are not a justification for anyone else
but ourselves and we tend to delve hours together on it to formulate
these reasons.
But
we need to step out of it, take a wider look at it – the answer is very
simple – we just need to ask the right question. And the question is –
Do you really want it?
How badly do you want it?
What are you willing to do for it?
Thinking is the capital, Enterprise is the way, and Hard Work is the solution.
Well
these are the simple 3 steps to solve any problem you might have in
life – Thinking, Finding innovative solutions and working towards the
solution.
Everything else is either a detour around these steps or sometimes even a distraction.
One
of the strongest challenges for success is that sometimes we have too
many steps between the success and failure. In other words the path is
too long and tedious which makes success harder to achieve.
Keep it really simple – keep it to these simple steps kalam advises and you might find a simple way out of your problems.
Suffering is the essence of success!
Does it remind you of this quote – Pain is essential but suffering is optional?!
I
like the quote – it is rebellious, it is the ultimate belief in human
will. But I am a simple man – I am not evolved enough not to feel
anything. There are too many conflicts in my mind and I don’t find it
that wrong at all.
But
maybe we are looking at it all wrong. We don’t have to try and define
everything in life – pain or suffering is a great motivator. We just
need to learn how to channel it to bring out the best in us.
We
would have remained at the same emotional state we were years ago if it
were not for the pain or suffering we went through. They changed us as
people, someone we are today. We might be proud or disappointed with it
and we might even be suffering because of it.
If
the answer is suffering – then great, start finding ways out of it, use
it to motivate yourself and push yourself towards the solution. Don’t
beat yourself up. Nothing good is going to come out of it! Be smart,
find a way out of it!
Confidence and Hard work is the best medicine to kill the disease called failure. It will make you successful person.
Low confidence is a disease, failure is disease, low aim is a crime!
Gosh
there are so many conflicting quotes in this world and sometimes it is
really confusing which one to pick. So, for a moment – forget all these
quotes.
Although
we love quotes at inspire99, I do agree and understand that they tend
to get a little romantic and bookish sometimes. Maybe cos these quotes
give us only a small picture of life and not the complete story.
I
am sure that even these greats had a lot of challenges in life and
struggled with their everyday activities. But that’s not their problem –
it is our – we tend to idolize every simple person we like.
Instead
– start looking at them as human, start looking at failure as a natural
phenomenon, quickly find ways to snap out of it and find solutions and
look at it as an opportunity or a challenge. There is no point in
wallowing in failure, the success is in your attitude of facing these
failures.
Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.
What is the secret of success? – Talent? Resources? Time? Opportunities?
If
someone said persistence/perseverance then I guess you have found the
right synonym for strength/success as Kalam points out here.
We
all are human and we all have a strong side and a weak side. Sorry to
douse the enthusiasm a bit but none of us are perfect, but we sure are
beautiful with our imperfections.
The
point here is that whatever we would like to do in life – we can’t let
the weak side of us call the shots cos it is going to lead us to
disaster. We cannot let the fears or past failures guide our futures as
well.
We need to focus on our past successes and persist. This strength is going to lead us to the destiny we deserve.
You cannot change your future, but you can change your habits, and surely your habits will change your future.
What
does future hold for us? I feel like a young kid looking at a crystal
ball hoping to see my life in a huge mansion with a fleet of cars and
riches to command.
Then
again – which one of us doesn’t want that? I am not going to debate
whether we can change the future or not, but I am going to say that we
ought to do everything we can to make that future we desire ours.
I
don’t know whether I will be able to change my future or not but I sure
would love to do everything in my power to get what I really feel very
strongly for. Sometimes it just becomes secondary whether you get to
your final destination or not.
And if it simply means changing a few habits, then why not? Are these habits really bigger than our dreams?
We should not give up and we should not allow the problems defeat us.
It all boils down to this one simple question – Who is bigger – YOU or YOUR PROBLEMS?
Come
on Big Guy, you cannot let every pebble in the way block you. If you
hit a pebble it – remove it from your feet, if you hit a wall push
through it, jump over it, blast it with dynamite.
Do
whatever you think is necessary – but do it. Don’t give in to the idea
of failure or self pity. They are not going to lead you anywhere.
It is very easy to gain sympathy or pity in this world. Fortunately RESPECT doesn’t work that way!
Don’t read success stories, you will only get a message. Read failure stories, you will get some ideas to get success.
It
is exciting to read success stories – it fills us with hope, energy and
the belief that anything and everything is possible in this world.
And
truly enough most of these success stories are tweaked to give you the
picture perfect ending we all love to see cos let us face it – tragedies
don’t succeed that very well in cinema.
But
that doesn’t mean that we recommend you to read failure stories. NO! We
really don’t want you to do that. But we do want you to understand the
importance of failures and maybe even appreciate them.
I
think what Kalam is trying to say here is that there has never been a
respectable success without a considerable failure. There have been
mistakes in the world which have opened up new lines of opportunities
and the way we have used them have led us to where we are today.
The
best way out is to honor the importance of failures as well, appreciate
them and stay clear of them. You don’t have to do all the mistakes to
learn from them – you can read a few too
Black color is sentimentally bad but, every black board makes the students life bright.
Luck has got nothing to do with your success or life story. I have rarely heard successful people sharing credit with luck.
Luck
sure is a very good excuse though, it helps us gratify ourselves and
curse the omens. The sad thing about cursing the omens is that they
don’t tell you what to do next.
You
don’t want someone to tell you or keep telling you that you failed. You
already know what you have gone through and defining that is not going
to give you much in return.
Instead,
look at the next step. Remember – what you see is what you get – you
can’t go forward by looking backwards all the time.
Similarly you can’t realize true success if you keep looking at just the failure and just the failure alone.
Message
to Students - Let's make India, a developed nation by our Sincere
Efforts, Hardwork & Energy: We all will see our dreams getting
true, if we follow path of our "Missileman"