Courage to accept and dedication to improve are two keys to success | UPSC Mains Essay Preparation PDF Download

Philosophy

“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed." ~ Ray Goforth

Introduction

Success has been defined in different words by different experts. However, success, no matter what, implies movement from the present state to a better or more improved state. A primary condition to success is the dedication to succeed or the dedication to improve. But all our dedication and efforts will come to naught, if we do not know what exactly we want to improve upon. In fact, that is the case with most of people. They want success but are not ready to accept the area where their potential for success lies. Therefore, most often we mess up our efforts towards achieving success with our ostrich like approach.

The Enemy of Success

What is it that we do not want to face? What is it that we do not have the courage to accept? No man is perfect. We all have follies and weaknesses. There are ghosts haunting some dark recesses of our minds. We do not want to confront them. We fear the acceptance of those weaknesses and realities will crumble our personality and dent our reputation. We ignore our limitations and let the delusion grow into a huge monster, our greatest enemy of success.
We needn’t worry about others who tell us we cannot succeed. The real enemy of our success lies within us. It works with a grand strategy. It offers us everything that may look attractive. It gives us intoxicants and bad habits. It robs us of our critical ability to think and question. In the process, we go on adding numberless weaknesses that we never think about; and eventually suffer to realize success has drifted irretrievably far from us. The enemy within is not done yet. It next robs us of our courage to accept this. So long as we do not accept, we fail to see the demons that have taken control of our mind and courage; and, finally, languish in the hell of our making with no motivation to improve.

Success Needs Courage

Given that no man, howsoever great, is ever perfect, the successful ones are those that sooner or later confront their inner enemies head on. Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence, was not free from vices either; only, he was courageous enough to accept the flaws of his character and to make a concerted effort to overcome all of those. That was how he could move ahead on the path of success. In his autobiography, Gandhi describes his addiction to smoking, fascination with the western lifestyle, and consumption of meat and alcohol. He also tells us of his realization that became the turning point in his life. Gandhi writes that he once used violence on his wife and felt so ashamed that he vowed non-violence for life, by letter and spirit.
How many of us have an act of similar courage to accept our weaknesses as Gandhi had? Gandhi was Gandhi not so much for his merits as for his courage to accept his faults. Let us see this point more clearly in the context of the Chauri Chaura incident. Gandhi was proud that he had been leading a non-violent non-cooperation movement in India. Since non-violence was his principled stand, he did not want to comprise with it to the slightest extent. The non-cooperation movement had been highly successful so far, and the freedom movement leaders were confident that it had shaken the British might. Then, violence broke out at Chauri Chaura. Since the movement was at its peak, no Indian leader favored withdrawing it for one odd incident. But, Gandhi insisted that the movement had to be instantly withdrawn because the violence had said it loud and clear, that it was a failure. Ultimately, the movement was withdrawn. It shows Gandhi’s unusual courage to accept. It takes more courage to accept failure when someone is at the peak of the success. It is clear, Gandhi’s experiment with non-violence became so successful mainly because he had the twin traits – the courage to accept and dedication to improve.

What is true of Gandhi’s life is true of everyone’s life. What is true of big movements based on strong ideologies like non-violence is also true of simple things in life. We all are victims of bad habits that may be ignored by others and us. Some of us speak lies. Some of us make excuses. Some of us don’t mind cheating in an exam, if help comes by. Some of us are never on time. Some of us lack discipline and punctuality. In other words, nearly all of us are victims of one or more of these small follies that remain with us life-long because we have neither faced them or accepted them courageously nor dedicated ourselves to improve.
In fact, we fail to realize that what we call these minor issues can cause enormous damage. A habitual liar, if unchecked, turns into a big liar and gets caught on the wrong side of the law someday. Those who get away with excuses after committing a wrong get tempted to commit a bigger wrong every time and are very likely to end up as wanted criminals.
When we lack the courage to accept, we are slowly also building resistance against what we do not want to accept. When we have built up a strong resistance, we would have also crossed the stage of a dilemma with the result that we then proudly wear our weakness on our sleeve. It is a self-destructive stance, and it blinds us to the ultimate doom we would invariably be heading to. However, it is never too late; and one gets several opportunities to accept and amend.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, if we want to succeed in any endeavor, we must introspect and determine where we stand in that domain. If I want to be a successful singer, I must introspect to judge without bias where I stand.  There may be some aspects of singing I would be weak in. If I have the courage to accept the reality, it will help me dedicate my efforts to improve upon that weakness. Success will not elude me then.