A Rage For Perfection
McEnroe
John McEnroe
"Needed to lose head to play good"
Anyway, the title got me thinking. Quite recently I've realised something about myself - I don't have the "rage for perfection." This is not to say mediocrity doesn't bother me, but competition surely doesn't. I'm not someone motivated by the vision of the accolades reserved for the highest achiever. Even from the very start, in school, I was never pushed for the first place, by me or by my folks. I was among the toppers, but rarely "the" topper. During my preparation days for JEE, I didn't use to think in "top 10, top 50" terms. Till the results came out, I thought anything in top 500 would be cool. Then in IIT, I let it go loose. Even afterwards, in my job, I never aspired to be the best or whatever. I wasn't bad, mind you :-), just not the best!
Does that mean achievements don't matter to me? My proudest achievement in recent times has been my success (however miniscule) in photography. I started with absolutely no credentials and did reasonably well. Many, many people have looked at my flickr account and praised my work. Nothing makes me more proud! Same for my blog; I started as another anonymous blogger. Now after some 1.5 years, I've got more than 50,000 hits. No mean feat :-) And mostly I have written whatever fancied me. Not for the readers, just for me.
So the way I've explained it to myself is that may be competition doesn't push me, but once I set my eye on some job and if I really enjoy doing it, then I do it well. And so well that, often I would emerge decently placed in the competition!
Just wanted to tell someone.
14 comments:
hope that u will wrie more often
whtever be that passion...its worth pursuing.
nevermind the traditional stuff...coll and job and coll and job again...
rem having a career is not the same as having a life!
good job on the blog....jus keep writing. :)
the place got to u too. I remember thinking of all this too lying there doing nothing. and of course the summers recruitment is close :). you have to think about wht ur doing etc.
pankaj
just to say congrates for your success and good luck for the future to have many more proud moments!
"Just wanted to tell someone."
Always here to hear you out :)
anyday ji.. jab jo bolna ho.. apun ko 'aankh band karke sacche man' se yaad kar lena :) sab sun lenge hum :)
Oye bahut busy ho gaye ho lagta hai.. weekend pe to fight maarke kuch post karo :)
i think, to a mediocre, even mediocrity is something gr8!
not everybody can be a topper!
its really strange that a person whose in 1st 500s in JEE says he was never a topper
u are a tpooer for the rest scores of students who appeared and coulndnt make it through!
but it really nice that u keep away from the rat race!
Not good at your job ? :O What are u talking abt ? Your "black hole" theory is still very fondly remembered ! :)
Well I was just wandering around and saw ur blog.Its interesting.
dont forget the basic rule!Think of a the SUN and u will atleast land up with a Moon.
U have a problem and solutions also lies within u.
dude.. you are on the right track as wht i feel.. bcoz you dont compete with others.... rather you jus want to do it in the best possible way.. you try to compete with urself.. ur past achievements.. and if not even that..
it sometimes becomes a weakness to have a feeling of competing with others.. b'cuz when those others disappear you dont find anywhr to go..
but given ur way... you will survive even after that.. bcuz u dont compete with others... :-)
hi i like ur blog
Hey nice thought out there...!
I sort of know what u mean...as in i've never obsessed about being "the" topper myself...but always done well and been somewhere therey...
When you don't obsess about it and just let it be...you always do consistently well...and go places...plus u end up maintaining a healthy balance between work and play!!!
O Brother where are thou! missing ur posts mate!
-pankaj
I know iam not a very active person on comments on ur blog but i do read it religiously. Keep writing, looking forward for some new posts from your end.
Post a Comment