By Shivansh Gupta
We all have once in our school messed up with the units of Force, Work, or Energy and some of us have never got it right. Damn those boring science classes.
But what is the SI unit of success?
In what terms we should measure it?
The Merriam-Webster has its first definition of success as “the fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame”.
So by far it goes something like this: if a man lives lavishly, has his Jacuzzi ready in his luxurious bathroom, and has all those refined grace and grandeur, he is successful.
But what about a common middle class man, who had its upbringing in a very poverty driven background, is able to give good education to his children, supports his whole family, celebrates their birthdays and anniversaries with great zeal, buys his mother a silk sari which she had rarely been able to wear when she was young. Is he not successful?
Or a single mother who is the man of the house, despite having no assistance and no higher education how deftly manages to give her daughter the same education and upbringing that she had longed for herself. Is she not successful?
I know it sounds a little out here but hear me out on this one. This is one great parable.
You can take a Chinese Bamboo seed and plant in the ground. Water and nurture the seed for an entire year and not even see a single sprout. In fact, you will not see a sprout for five years but suddenly, finally a tiny shoot will spring from the ground and over the next six weeks the plant can grow as tall as ninety feet, it can grow as fast as 39 inches in 24 hours. You can literally watch the plant grow.
What was the plant doing during these five years seemingly dormant period? It was growing its roots, it was increasing its ‘depth’.
Some would say the plant grew ninety feet in six weeks, but actually, it grew ninety feet in five years and six weeks.
92% marks of a student who comes from a family which is suffering from domestic violence and living in a 1 BHK are not the same as 92% marks of a student who has a separate room for himself, and has other facilities.
The same goes for the countries too. India cannot be looked down upon when we compare it with countries like the USA. USA got its freedom in 1776, much and much more before India, where we have got ours approximately 69 years ago.
Success should not be measured by the amount of wealth you have or the lifestyle you live. It does not only have height. It is like an iceberg whose major part lies beneath the surface of the sea. The depth is the significant part. The background from where one comes and the time which is taken by them to overcome their own chasm of hardships should also be taken into account. It is very easy to lend people money when you have it or do some benevolent acts when life is going good, but as soon as we feel the contempt of fate on ourselves we forget those Godly gestures. It is that attitude of perseverance of keeping up that gestures in front of those ugly faces of difficulties that builds your character, and character is what makes you successful.
I guess the SI unit of success is the depth that you have overcome and not the peak at which you are.
Read this article to act on your ideas in order to make them successful:
