It's been a while since I hit the proverbial wall. Hitting the wall is a condition, usually used by marathon runners, when they can't move any further in the race. This is usually caused due to complete depletion of carbohydrates in the body, basically no more energy left.
At such times, even a stray word, not necessarily any stray word, could spark your imagination, specifically if you are looking for motivation to continue with your pursuit of becoming better at writing. Guess what? I came across an entire sentence. Here goes.
"If you could accomplish anything with your life, what would you do?"
I came across this line in the very beginning of a book called 40 Chances. That italicized line is a question posed by Warren Buffet to his son as a challenge.
Wow! Think of the question. Specially the first half of it. "If you could accomplish anything in your life". Firstly, if we observe carefully enough, that line is the truest thing that can be said about life, specially if we remove the 'IF' out of it. Secondly, anyone who has realized the truth in that line, surely is a fortunate person, as I am. And lastly, for some reason, each time that question repeats itself in my head, it seems to be Will Smith asking me the same question in his 'Pursuit of Happyness' outfit.
What would you do? Or, ask yourself this question while standing in front of the mirror.
Pretty surely, this question isn't just a challenging question for Mr. Buffet's son alone. Goodness! How do these really crazy people come up with these questions? Is it because they know the answer to such questions? Or is it because they don't? Huh? The latter definitely sounds unlikely after looking at what they have accomplished in their lifetimes, which, needless to say, is nothing less than commendable, although maybe, just maybe, it might not be worth ruling that possibility completely.
A while ago, I came across this list of questions that people are asked during job interviews. All the questions were the "Where do you see yourself after 5 years" type questions. In most cases, the answer that pops into my head is the ubiquitous "I don't know". And it feels pretty crappy.
By the way, how do I know that the person who is asking me these high -flying questions knows the answers to them? That is obviously immaterial as long as I can't answer the questions myself.
That is why we read so much, if at all we do. To 'figure it all out'. In his book on Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson clearly mentions how Jobs felt restless out of not knowing what to do. Jobs, while addressing the students of Stanford University, back in 2005, said something like he hoped that everything would be fine, when he decided to drop out of college. Of course, when you hear these heavyweights of our world ratifying the 'It's okay to not know' Theory, it obviously sounds a lot more convincing to 'not know'. That's always been the case. Why do we have Sachin Tendulkar instead of our mom/dad/grandpa endorsing the National Egg Coordination Committee with the slogan सन्डे हो या मंडे, रोज़ खाओ अंडे (Be it Sunday or Monday, eat eggs everyday)? Does the line sounds convincing coming from Sachin? Actually, it does. But it is more because if our mom/dad/grandpa happened to try convincing us to eat eggs using the same 'Sunday-Monday' lines, we would be rolling on the floor laughing each time they told us this, which would make them feel embarrassed, and in all probability, that would be the end of their advocacy of the health benefits of consuming eggs. So that's pretty much about eggs.
Coming back to the big question, rather the answer to the big question, If I could(and Can... So can anyone) accomplish anything I wanted, which is still something I couldn't figure out in the 45 minutes that the question has nagged me, If I would want to accomplish one thing of all, it would be never regretting trying something. Yes, surely that will take a lifetime to accomplish, but the, I hope everything will be fine.
How about you?
At such times, even a stray word, not necessarily any stray word, could spark your imagination, specifically if you are looking for motivation to continue with your pursuit of becoming better at writing. Guess what? I came across an entire sentence. Here goes.
"If you could accomplish anything with your life, what would you do?"
I came across this line in the very beginning of a book called 40 Chances. That italicized line is a question posed by Warren Buffet to his son as a challenge.
Wow! Think of the question. Specially the first half of it. "If you could accomplish anything in your life". Firstly, if we observe carefully enough, that line is the truest thing that can be said about life, specially if we remove the 'IF' out of it. Secondly, anyone who has realized the truth in that line, surely is a fortunate person, as I am. And lastly, for some reason, each time that question repeats itself in my head, it seems to be Will Smith asking me the same question in his 'Pursuit of Happyness' outfit.
What would you do? Or, ask yourself this question while standing in front of the mirror.
Pretty surely, this question isn't just a challenging question for Mr. Buffet's son alone. Goodness! How do these really crazy people come up with these questions? Is it because they know the answer to such questions? Or is it because they don't? Huh? The latter definitely sounds unlikely after looking at what they have accomplished in their lifetimes, which, needless to say, is nothing less than commendable, although maybe, just maybe, it might not be worth ruling that possibility completely.
A while ago, I came across this list of questions that people are asked during job interviews. All the questions were the "Where do you see yourself after 5 years" type questions. In most cases, the answer that pops into my head is the ubiquitous "I don't know". And it feels pretty crappy.
By the way, how do I know that the person who is asking me these high -flying questions knows the answers to them? That is obviously immaterial as long as I can't answer the questions myself.
That is why we read so much, if at all we do. To 'figure it all out'. In his book on Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson clearly mentions how Jobs felt restless out of not knowing what to do. Jobs, while addressing the students of Stanford University, back in 2005, said something like he hoped that everything would be fine, when he decided to drop out of college. Of course, when you hear these heavyweights of our world ratifying the 'It's okay to not know' Theory, it obviously sounds a lot more convincing to 'not know'. That's always been the case. Why do we have Sachin Tendulkar instead of our mom/dad/grandpa endorsing the National Egg Coordination Committee with the slogan सन्डे हो या मंडे, रोज़ खाओ अंडे (Be it Sunday or Monday, eat eggs everyday)? Does the line sounds convincing coming from Sachin? Actually, it does. But it is more because if our mom/dad/grandpa happened to try convincing us to eat eggs using the same 'Sunday-Monday' lines, we would be rolling on the floor laughing each time they told us this, which would make them feel embarrassed, and in all probability, that would be the end of their advocacy of the health benefits of consuming eggs. So that's pretty much about eggs.
Coming back to the big question, rather the answer to the big question, If I could(and Can... So can anyone) accomplish anything I wanted, which is still something I couldn't figure out in the 45 minutes that the question has nagged me, If I would want to accomplish one thing of all, it would be never regretting trying something. Yes, surely that will take a lifetime to accomplish, but the, I hope everything will be fine.
How about you?
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