Better than your yesterday

I am in competition with no one...I have no desire to play the game of being better than anyone. I am simply trying to be better than the person I was yesterday" ...Anonymous

I was reasonably good in academics in my early school days. I would consistently be in the top 3. I had quick grasping skills in Maths ,Science and Social sciences. This would fetch me good grades …I was elated…My teachers were happy…My parents were fine

However, a problem was building up underneath…I had become lazy due to the complacency and overconfidence. I stopped doing the Hard work …like following up on the daily lessons ; I would always tell myself that I can play “Catch-up”.  So, as the exams start nearing, I would put in the required work that would get me through. While I got through comfortably, with every higher class, my grades were dropping slowly, but surely.

And then  the common exams arrived in my 10^th Standard. My 10^th standard marks  never justified the promise that I had in my early school days…My teachers were not amused…My father was unhappy…I felt that I had let down everyone…

In comparison, there were several of my friends who did not possess the so called “Natural” skills I had…some of them were slow in grasping the stuff.. but had romped home with great scores in the 10^th Class exams. So I was left puzzled about  “What I did wrong ?”  and “What my friends did right?” . 

The answer was not too difficult to find : My friends with “limited “ skills had put in their hours day after day …they had compensated for their lack of skills with deliberate practice & effort. They figured out their flaws day after day ..They improved their speed and problem solving skills as they put in their daily practice. It showed up in the final outcome…

So dear friends, the lesson for the day is this: Each one of us is possessed with unique skill-sets…the natural make-up that we are endowed with and it may be a boon or bane…However It does not matter much…what matters is to put in our daily effort everyday to build the skills:

The effort to do the practice everyday… however motivated or de-motivated we are feeling on that day..

The effort to falter in the practice on a particular day…only to regroup tomorrow

The effort to be not better than anybody else other than oneself

The effort to be only better than your yesterday