We have all heard of the rags to riches stories. We’ve read of successes- millionaires and billionaires, born with a mission to change the world and did so overnight. At the same time, we are also fed stories of lives being transformed in a single moment. We all love good stories, especially those that are brief and come with a guaranteed happy ending of money and success.
But we are feeding wrong information in our system every single time we read such stories.
It is all relative in the human brain. Whether or not we openly discuss it, our first response to any story is to compare the life of the leading character with our own life. Our brain rushes to say things like “Hey look at X, Y, and Z. They are truly making things happen,” as a quieter voice in the head pops in to say “unlike us.”
When we read such stories, we do not acknowledge the years of effort that went behind their overnight success. In a wish to weave magical success stories that captivate common folks like you and me, we fail to recognize that there’s more to this than meets the eye. This means we overlook the years it took them to get there, turn a blind eye to their struggles and challenges, and find ourselves in a sticky spot when we face obstacles in real life.
It’s because day-dreaming is easier, for who here doesn’t like to build castles in the air. But the problem with day-dreaming is that it comes at the cost of action. There could be two reactions, one thriving in the magic of dreaming about it. Dreaming is easy. You can while away your time thinking it will magically land in your palms without even putting an effort.
The other problem that I face myself personally is that, when it’s a bit far-fetched and you cannot see yourself transitioning from where you are right now to where you want to be, it can soon become overwhelming. This feeling of overwhelming leads to panic, anxiety, and an endless loop of I am not good enough, which again prompts inaction.
Two different paths, but both lead to the same place- Inaction.
Dreams don’t work unless You Do
We cannot stop dreaming, we shouldn’t. Looking for a better tomorrow or longing for a brighter future is important to keep us going. But what we need instead is to cultivate patience and persistence in a world of instant success and virality. Understanding that it will take time and accepting that the efforts we put in today will reap rewards over time.
The Bhagavad Gita rightly puts it in its verse Karmanye Vadhikaraste:
“Let your concern (or focus) be on your action, let it not be on the outcome of the action. Do not act only out of expectation, but then do not slip into inactivity.”
Rather than getting hung up on the outcome, center your energies around the next step. Break that dream into smaller milestones, further breaking the smaller milestones into actionable steps, and get them right.
Put in the Efforts and the Rewards will follow
Therefore, instead of living a pipe-dream and planning your overnight success, sow the seeds today to make that tomorrow bright and glorious. We have been taught the right lesson with the Hare and the Turtle all along. Continue moving every single day, no matter if it’s crawling, striding, or leaping. As the saying goes-
“Rome wasn’t built in a day but they were laying the bricks every hour.”
What bricks are you going to lay for a brighter future?