Nowadays, a man’s drive and motivation to achieve is constantly put into doubt and question by countless obstacles in his road to success. Day in and day out, he is faced with numerous challenges, negativity and uncertainty which puts his passion into a whirlwind of ifs and maybes. Every time one bounces on a trampoline of hope and inspiration, he is pulled back down by either his own lack of confidence in his ability to reach the goals he has set for himself, or by the surrounding crowd of failures who are tied up in their own vicious cycles. Amidst the thousands who read self-help books on gaining motivation to succeed and listen to hundreds of seminars on the same, only a handful are lucky enough to fight the beast within which tells them they can’t do something. Therefore, despite immense capability and a dire need that every individual reaches his utmost potential, we are left with a majority of followers behind the fortunate few leaders.
The sad reality hits once more, when we walk around with labels we are continuously judged on the basis of, let it be of the gender we carry, or the religious affiliation we have, or merely the nationality we hold. Our failure is indistinctively categorized as the failure of a man/woman, Muslim/Christian, Pakistani/Indian. Success, hence, is no longer a personal matter, but a responsibility we have on the account of being whoever we are and acquiring whichever identity we do. Ask yourself, how many times you scroll through a list of highly successful people and notice the number of women or Muslims in the compilation, wondering why the ratio is such and accepting it as fate that our type cannot reach the pinnacle as easily as others can.
We provide excuses to ourselves for the lack of success we see around us, and find solace in the rarity of the success stories in our society – simply eradicating the will to achieve more, and reducing our life to a common, useless existence. But are we willing to live the rest of our lives as a mere number amongst billions or do we wish to shine and leave a legacy for decades to come? If you choose the latter, every time life reminds you that it is tough and difficult, fight back stronger than before with the understanding of the need to do so. Every time you are reminded of the hardships you will have to face to climb every step on the ladder of greatness, stop looking down below and start exploring the possibilities which lie at the horizon. Every time you hear someone tell you, you can NOT do something, firmly respond: YES I CAN!
