(Well… it CAN be!)
If you look at motivational videos, you’ll see that a good number of them focus on you becoming this hardworking hero of your story who worked SO hard that they beat all the odds in life and succeeded like a BEAST! 😤💪. That one top percent who actually gets up at 3:24 am in the morning, takes freezing cold showers, goes on a run for like 8,754,836,543 miles each morning, eats cereal with nuts and bolts instead of ramen because it’s healthier, injects coffee in their bloodstream instead of drinking water for pRoDUctIViTy, and sleeps for 2 hours at night because sleep is only for babies and grandmas and because “success” is too important to enjoy any of the comforts of life that the rest of the peasant population likes to have😤🏆💪😤🥇😤
Obviously this is an exaggeration😅, but you’ll find that in many media sources and cultures this kind of view is taken seriously. What I found the book “Laziness Does Not Exist” put into words is the idea that success is actually a collaborative process, in contrast to what our media tends to tell us. It doesn’t have to be this lone wolf journey after all. At least it isn’t so for people like me.
Reading that part of the book made me reflect on my own path as a student and see that many people like the bus driver who drove me to classes on time, people who took care of my emotional and physical health, and professors who put the effort into delivering good lectures etc., played a part in my journey.
All of us may not have supportive people in our lives, or we may have to fight many battles alone but to me, success does not seem possible to have totally on your own. Someone somewhere along the way must have contributed something.
This begs a question. If other people are contributing to our success in some ways, be it via practical support, emotional, financial support, or even through prayers, then how are we contributing to other people’s success? Because if we believe too strongly in the lone wolf journey thing, we’ll only be focused on our own selves.
If we start to make time and effort to help other people succeed, whether it is by giving good advice, helping them find resources and connections, encouraging them, giving them food, giving rides, etc., then we’ll start to look forward to and find happiness in their success too. And then, even if there are challenges in our own journey, seeing the people we supported shine could lift up our own spirits to keep us going.
All in all, I think sometimes it is a good idea to move away from thinking that you’re totally stuck in this horribly difficult and lonely underdog journey, appreciate the support from others, pay it forward, and try to enjoy the journey. The better people are doing in the world, the better our world can become, and we can help facilitate that just like many others already do. Lastly, this perspective can also humble us. Our hard work isn’t the only thing helping us out.
Faiza 