Saturday, 7th Jan 2023

Starting any new activity may not be that tough. In fact, there is the beginners enthusiasm which pulls us through. The main challenge though is maintaining the momentum. The main challenge is keeping yourself motivated and committed throughout. The main challenge is dedicating and making enough time for yourself for doing the activity you committed to do. Discipline is also a chief factor and one of the most important milestones which lie on the path to achieving your goal.

For example, you might take up some new activity like going to the gym, or taking up art classes. The first few sessions are good. Your new found enthusiasm takes you all the way through. But as time passes by, the enthusiasm starts waning and you find it more and more difficult to walk the path.

But this is the crucial juncture. This is the make or break point. This is when you must really focus and persevere. And persevere you must. Else all that effort will be in vain. You will never reach your goal if you stop midway. When you are on the verge of quitting, ask yourself why you started the activity in the first place? What did you visualise the end to be? It’s not easy. But then nothing worth achieving ever is. If it were so easy, then everyone would have a six pack. Every other person would be able to run the four minute mile. You get the picture.

The road to success is rocky at first. The path is strewn with obstacles and there will be temptations and our own limitations which will time and again beckon us to stray away from the right path. There will first be our own doubts and misgivings, which we should overcome. Then there will be external forces. Evil influences which will pull us down. We must destroy them and keep plodding down the path.

Whatever the obstacle, whatever the issue we should keep continuing and never lose hope. Where there is hope, there is life. This makes all the difference between winning and losing. Between success and failure.

As Swami Vivekananda famously stated:

“If the road you’re travelling on does not have any obstacle, be sure that you’re going down the wrong path.”

There’s also this famous saying which goes thus:

“To get something we’ve never had, we must do something we’ve never done before.”

Conversely:

“If we keep doing what we’ve always been doing, we’ll get what we’ve always been getting.”

Hope this new year you find the strength and the motivation to go for your goals without losing focus.