Stop having regrets or remorse, being diffident or defeatist, if you did not get to the top by your position, ranking, score or else! If you are 2nd or lower in your position, do you know that you have several silver linings beneath and opportunities on the horizon now to race for the top with greater competence and capabilities? I have observed the most people instead of accepting the realities, they get disappointed and demoralized and in the process, they fail to see never-seen–before possibilities emerging and benefit from brighter prospects unveiled now!
What can you lose, when you are on the Top
- When you reach to the top (of an organization, competition, accomplishments, passion or pursuit), your mind set changes. You have new found excitement and expectations; so also ego and emotions. Once you are there, you need to manage such new scenario for self. There are umpteen examples, say in Corporates, where top performers were recognized by elevating them to top position; but they could not perform. They were besieged by pressure to perform, fear of failure or nervousness for having nothing above (or below) to fall back!
Often, people at the top see end of the road ahead, after sometimes, when euphoria dies and hard realities descend; rather than seeing or creating opportunities ahead. This, inevitably throw them into defensive and denial mode.
And that is the start of their downward journey. - Your success to the top or be first can make you over-confident and then, arrogant. You lose, at that point, sense of sound judgment, sanity and empathy.
- By virtue of your success, if you shoot into fame and fortune, power and popularity, you are dumbfounded or dazed how to manage the same. History has shown that many leaders, sportsmen, writers, artists and celebrities got into dejection and depression mode.
Famous author JK Rowling of Harry Potter books has revealed recently how she could not handle her success and shine, and had to undergo therapy due to clinical depression! There are many such live examples of singers and leaders. - You can become poor listener.
- You tend to be autocratic and slip down in respecting other’s opinions and expectations.
- In all likelihood, you would ignore your family, friends and health.
- You can lose your peace and sleep.
- Position that you now possess, can make you obsessed.
The above attracts Adversity, after your Advent to the Top.
What do you gain, when you fail to reach to the Top!
- Best opportunities for learning lessons on how others get success and what causes failure.
- When you are trailing, you are always looking ahead, get inspired to pull out your energy, efforts and enthusiasm unprecedentedly to accelerate and advance. You are trying to convert impossible into possible! This is the occasion, which you need to catch and analyze carefully. It can bring a major paradigm shift in your perceptions and help you to understand your hidden talent and energy.
- You can learn to accept realities and appreciate others’ strengths.
- You have possibility to identify your weak spots and convert these into your strengths, adversity into opportunity and despair into delight.
- You learn to be patient.
- You have unique privilege to be privy to:
- How a successful person sustains his success and could continue being at top.
- How a successful person could succumb to stress and situational complications.
- How to manage challenges, conflicts and contradictions.
- How to develop courage and convictions.
- How to seek opportunities to create another peak.
- How you can lose your command and control to adversities and fall prey to insinuations and instigations.
- How complexities could work; yet simplicities not!
- You do not have to necessarily invent the wheel and be prone to failures; you can rather consolidate and improve upon, what is already invented.
Now, your march towards the Top
If you have gone through the rigmarole of “what is there in losing and winning” and indeed understood, you would mature, leave past behind and move forward. You would discover that:
- Success now does not go into your head and failure into your heart!
- Successes and failures go concurrently like 2 sides of same coin; depending upon your attitude and approach, both could be equally bright or equally dull.
- You are better prepared and polished.
- You are ready, robust and rugged to take off.
- You have versatility and vitality to march to the top, sustain and seek higher top!
At the end, an untold secret of Nature – the one, who saw the day later, could learn and leap more! So never ever mind to “play a second fiddle”.
Amused? See the upcoming posts!
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