Step up, Do more, Be more!

I have been running regularly for a few years now. During these years, the distance I ran hasn’t increased much. Maybe because I never aimed at increasing the distance, Or maybe as I got better, I improved on my speed rather than distance. Or maybe I am not capable to run farther. The last thought felt like a challenge (perhaps insult). Usually I run around 3 km, but today I decided to run 4 km.  And like a good employee without knowing what it is getting into, my body smiled and agreed to the deal.

Normal 3 km I ran the way I usually do – watching people, enjoying greenery, thinking random thoughts, wondering why some people are sitting when they can run and why some people are running when they can sit. The real test began as I approached 3 km mark. The distance after 3 km was an unknown territory to my mind. A voice started echoing – you haven’t done any farther before, you are tired now, this is your limit. My breath became louder and tiredness turned into pain. I felt pain in my back, it was like a Ninja fighter punching in my back, one punch after another every time my foot hit the ground. But I wouldn’t give up so easy, I kept running. Suddenly my right leg got angry at me, acute pain in the right thigh. I took a few steps ignoring the pain, but pain didn’t disappear. Maybe pain isn’t like fear which is present only in mind, Pain is real. I started thinking about the moments when I had lost (things/people/opportunities) because I wasn’t strong enough to win. The only way I would have won is if I had been stronger.  The only way one can be stronger than present state is by crossing one’s existing limits. And the only way to exceed current limit is to keep moving in spite of pain. I ran further, something around half a circle, perhaps 500m.

My left leg joined the course. It was not one body anymore. Legs and back would not listen to my mind. I cannot really blame the body for misbehaving; it was never trained for such feat. But if I stopped, then the failure would taunt me in the future – “You couldn’t do that day, how can you do today”. With only 500 m to go, I turned to the most powerful mantra. I started repeating in my head – “You are not a human being, you are a machine, you feel no pain.” I kept running and got accustomed to the pain. I stopped looking at the surrounding and focused all energy on taking the next step. That was all I had to do for some time to reach the destination.

When I reached the finish line, I felt relieved. I laid on the ground, exhausted! For a moment I thought, I should do some push ups. I smiled at the optimism. Maybe these thoughts were coming from a winning mind, which had successfully passed the previous limits. I realized that limits are largely limits of mind. And if one has the will to bear the pain, there is always possibility to do something once thought of as undoable. I decided to head back home with a stronger, both physically and emotionally, me.  Also, I decided to rejuvenate the body with some fish and drinks.

Our body, like that of any other animal, wants to take it as easy as possible. What does that means? Try this. Till now you have been reading at your normal reading speed. Now as you are reading this increase your reading speed, start reading faster than ever before. No, No, don’t just think that you can read faster, experience it. Read this line really fast, fast, faster than ever before. Yes, Yes, keep reading fast. Did you experience the difference? You can read much faster than usual speed (and it is much more fun). Any task can be done faster and better than before, if the mind decides so. Whereas, if the mind doesn’t drive urgency, the body will take it easy (and slowwwwwwwww).

Fortunately, we have mind that can drive our body, unlike that of animal which is driven by stomach. One can create sense of urgency by giving tight deadlines, thereby increasing focus and enhancing performance. Also, as one becomes faster and better , one will find that the sheer pleasure of witnessing oneself getting better than before is the greatest motivating factor. Next time don’t take two weeks to complete the mundane assignment, rather finish it in a week or so by giving tighter deadlines. If everything in life comes with an expiry date, then why not the task at hand!  Stop lingering on at one task; give it a deadline, finish it faster, have more fun!

It is half past midnight and I am deep absorbed in my thoughts (or maybe I am lost). I am hitting the keyboard buttons in effort to capture my thoughts before losing them forever. While doing this exercise, cool breeze running straight on my face diverts my attention. I start to look at my surroundings – mobile phone next to my laptop, bed with creased sheets, books piled up on the rack, iPod with entangled wires – and slowly my sight takes a full circle back to laptop screen. Suddenly I realize that I witness something different. I quickly turn back. I see dials of the clock moving. There are only two things moving in the room – me and the clock. It becomes apparent that everything will be left behind the way it is even in my absence. The only thing that really matters is – time! The realization is not frightening, but rather informative that one should invest time in most important activities.

All of us have desire to do plenty of things in life before we stop breathing oxygen. However, only a few of us ever take a shot. What stops us from pursuing something that is most meaningful to us? The answer is risk. But what is this risk? Is it grave enough to prevent us from doing what is most meaningful for us? It becomes absolutely crucial to carefully estimate the risk before letting risk take over the dreams (and eventually the life).

Let’s first estimate the potential risk involved in a professional setting. The gravest loss which I can think of is money. You might open your own enterprise, and it might not work well. You might work at company of choice but might get paid less for your work. So, in theory, the risk can be quantified as probability of failure multiplied by investment in the venture.

Many people only calculate the potential downside involved in professional risk! But what about the personal risk? Personal risk includes risk of working with people who don’t care about your success and their success doesn’t matter to you, risk of doing something that doesn’t interest you and you are not willing to give your 100%, risk of doing something that fails to express you or even worse which contradicts who you are. What is the cost of being less than what you could be? And then the most dangerous risk of all - passing days with the most regretful words, “life could have been different, if I could have just tried”? Risk of spending your life doing something which is not meaningful to you, but doing it just because you think it will buy you freedom so that someday you will pursue what is important to you.

Unlike professional risk, personal risk cannot be estimated by a number. But that doesn’t means it can be neglected. ‘Playing it safe’ essentially means that you weigh short term financial rewards and comfort more than personal values, satisfaction, and time. Maybe many people don’t think about personal values. But if, time and satisfaction are precious, truly priceless, then all the professional risk pales in front of personal compromises, as long as you do not put yours and your family’s basic well being in danger. It will dawn upon that it is not walking on the uncertain path that is risky, but it is “not walking on path of choice” that holds grave risk.