"The first step of reaching the top is getting through the crowd at the bottom"
How often we think to cross one level of competition, and be assured that rest of the going would be smooth, just to realize that competition has just increased !
As a child we often didn't know what we are headed for. Later on we make a decision, usually the one that would lead to something more comfortable later in life, or colloquially "do this, and then there is fultoo aish".
As a child I used to think that if I get good grades in school, life would be comfortable. Maybe comfortable meant "bed of roses" to me. In engineering, all the old school style of competition seemed somewhat trivial ! Bt still there is a big fight to get those coveted jobs, but again, on reaching "there", we often end up realizing that just to be ahead of the crowd, you have to compete a lot. During those job/graduation days it is a dream to get into any of the coveted b schools leading to a wonderful "bed of roses" type life. But again it is the same old competition, of the kind we had earlier, but much more fierce, with much more to win and much more a stake. All those "old" competition might now seem insignificant.
But still ... whether we like it or not, that's the truth. As we move higher and higher the intensity of competitiveness. If I land up at some dream job from here, to an outsider it may seem as an end - a comfortable life with success guaranteed. But the one actually facing the music may realize that competition has just increased manifold. And as that chap moves up the hierarchical pyramid, he may realize that the competition for the next level is now manifold.
That reminds me of the process of selection of Jack Welsh's successor as the CEO of GE. All seemed to be absolutely fantastic, the margin for the final "winner" was almost negligible. Drawing inference from this, one can guess how competitive it would be as one moves up the career. And from the top looking in retrospect, all may seem so inconsequential. Maybe the school or graduation was a cakewalk, as the person may think.
Maybe, getting ahead of the lot to succeed in competition may seem to be a tough ask as of now, but that may not be even a small part of the things to come and if it is just only about comfort without competition, it may just a form of manifestation of mediocrity.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
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11 comments:
hmm, pretty right ...and then there are levels of success which differ from people to people and level of competitions they can digest...
frankly speaking, i dont think m made for this rat race even thou currently i maybe part of one...but all that some other time.. :)
hmmmm..i can relate so well to dis post!..i thot coll was over..a gr8 job in my hand n now full on aish..but u r so rite..d intensity of competition has only increased..i hav always competed wid myself n no1 else..but things suddenly seem so diff in the corporate world..my batchmates r alrdy thinkin of climing up d ladder n making d rite connections n wat not..n m still pondering on things like..wheres d masti gone!
yup,.. moving up the ladder it gets more tiresome as well as means shedding some good times for that,.. nice outlook on it..
I've always run the race... in the opposite direction though
:D
The rat-race ruins who we really are. beware!
Keshi.
@gypsy
every one is part of the race...and yeah success is definitely relative
@echo
masti is right there...just that we have to just go ahead and enjoy!! get out of the race for a while..like a pit stop
@if-so-guy
thank you
@macadamia
lol..hope everyone follows suit
@keshi
yeah ..the rat race can really take you down!!!
hah. you need to keep running to be in the same place! but, there's no race man...it's just a way of life one chooses, and in the process does what it takes to live that life. one only gets what one reaaally really wants, really. masti, race, work-life, all-work-no-life, et al.
like they say even if you win the rat race you are still a rat.
However, in a world where survival of the fittest prevails we all work towards climbing the pyramid. Some like Welch do it with ease and a smile some with a scowl (read Ambanis)
In the end what does not matter to you is not where you gotten but more importantly how you got there. Nefarious means or saintly ones.
Hmmmmm.....
But do you really want to blend in??
ya i know this sucess lader is everywhere..u just need to know when u climb and when u be seated
so true! i just graduated with a placement but no calls yet. trying my luck (if i might say so) with mba.. so far its been bleh bleh and more bleh.. ppl say its all going to be alright, but that's hard to believe considering what is 'alright' has always been a relative term. sigh :(
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