People often talk about how they had to go through multiple failures in life to get to where they are.
I think that’s not true.
As a matter of fact, the most successful people have always been successful at the thing they do. It is also because they were good at it. Along with, of course, exceptional amounts of relentless hard work.
They may have made mistakes, may have lost sometimes, but if they are truly successful from within, not just to show off to the world, a distinguishing factor has been they have always been good at their craft, right from the start.
They never went from struggling nobody to a pro somebody.
They went from a pro nobody to a bigger pro somebody.
Let me explain how.
SRK might have had some flop movies here and there, but his charisma and acting prowess have been spectacular right from Day 1. He received commercial success and love over the years, because of being good at his skills.
Or think of Virat Kohli. He was so committed to the game that he went to play on the day his father died, who was also the very person who supported his decision to take up cricket full-time. Virat may have also seen enormous highs and lows in his career, but none of that ever made him a “failure”, again because of his skills that he relentlessly practised every day for decades.
To be a little pompous, I may have received commercial success a bit late as a writer, but I never doubted my writing or felt like a failure or giving up all. Because money may have come quite late in my writing journey, good writing had always been a part of my DNA.
I don’t think I might want to be a nicer dancer or a pro basketball player or a professional pianist. Not because I cannot, but also because I have never been inclined towards them to the point of obsession, even though all these have been small parts of my life. My obsession quietly took me towards writing, maybe because I picked up a pen because it was too difficult to hold a sword, but this is how life turns out.
This is also the secret to finding your flow.
Failure might happen at some point in the journey.
But at its core, if you are great at anything in your life, you are successful at it consistently and courageously (even if you receive apparent failures).
It is also about showing up day after day after day after day, not to prove yourself to anyone, but because you cannot not do the thing that you do.
If you cannot take your mind away from the thing you do with relentlessness, love and devotion no one would ever understand, you are already a success. The numbers will follow. They will follow when you have stopped caring about numbers.
