|
Home
Search
Subscribe Online
Archives
About
Us
Cartoons
Online
Book Store
E-Greetings
Jobs @ MG
Advertise
on MG
Our
Team
Contact Us
Muslim
Matrimonials
Our Advertisers
| |
The Psychology of Success
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
 The
World champions often possess equal physical strength and capabilities,
and receive training of an almost equal standard. Then why does one win
and another lose? This question has been a topic of research in America
for the past three years. The report of the group of scientists working on
this has recently been published.
They chose the top international wrestlers and made comparisons of their
physical strength and psychological reserves. They found out that there is
one marked difference between the winners and the losers in world
competitions. It is not a physical difference, yet it plays the most
crucial role in winning or losing a competition. The experts discovered
that the winners were more conscientious and in control of themselves than
the losers. The report is summed up as follows:
"Losers tended to be more depressed and confused before competing,
while the winners were positive and relaxed."(The Times of India, 26
July, 1981). This applies equally to the broader field of life. In life
when two individuals or two groups confront one another, their victory or
defeat does not depend so much on material resources as on intellectual
and psychological reserves.
The conviction that one’s goals are worthwhile, the observation of
discipline with no contradiction between words and thoughts, cool
thinking, even in times of crisis—all these are qualities of mind and
heart which determine success, and obviate failure in the wider field of
life.
Per Ardua ad Astra
(Through Hardship to the Stars)
According to an English scholar, Ian Nash, who spent eleven years in Japan
making a detailed study of the language and nation, what shook the
Japanese most profoundly was not upheavals in politics, but the great
Kanto earthquake, which devastated the whole of the most populated eastern
part of Japan on the first of September, 1923. Another terrible blow was
the reduction of two of the great cities of Japan to smouldering mounds of
waste by the dropping of atomic bombs. This lead to the ultimate defeat of
Japan in the Second World War in 1945.
One might imagine that any country which has been dealt such shattering
blows would never be able to rise again from its ashes. But this is far
from being true, for Japan has not only rehabilitated itself, but now
figures most prominently of all on the world commercial and industrial
scene. Japan has become a great hive of technological activity in spite of
having launched itself on an industrial course long after Britain, Europe
and America. This is all the more remarkable, considering that Japan has
none of the natural resources that the older established industrial
nations have, buried right there in their own soil just waiting to be
extracted.
In man’s life the most important thing is the will to act. Had the
Japanese succumbed to a sense of loss and frustration, and frittered their
energies away in futile political protest, their country would have been
doomed to decline and ruination. But, as it was, they conquered any sense
of victimization they might have had and set about reconstructing their
national life with a will and a way. Although earthquakes had brought them
death and destruction, they had also galvanized them into building their
lives afresh.
In such situations of grim affliction, provided one has the will, all
one’s hidden potential and latent faculties are brought into play. One
can think better, plan more successfully and make the greater efforts
needed to bring one’s plans to fruition. One who lacks the will to
improve his life is just like an idling motor which is going nowhere.
Experience has shown also that complacency and a sense of comfort can be
even greater vitiating factors in man’s progress through life than
devastation and despair. This does not mean that adversity by itself is
beneficial. No. It is simply the spark which ignites the fuel of man’s
soul and drives him on to greater things. It is the mainspring of his
initiative and the force which propels him relentlessly forward. In the
face of adversity his hidden capacities come to the fore and it is
possible for him to reach undreamt of heights. But first and foremost
there has to be the will to do so. There has to be the will to stop
wallowing in self-pity and to get up and take action.
It is not ease, but effort, not facility, but difficulty which make a man
what he is.
Try, Try, Try Again
A young man who was employed as an ordinary worker in a Bidi factory soon
learnt the entire art of the business and set up his own factory. He
initially invested only Rs. 5000 in his business, but then by dint of
fifteen years’ hard work, his business progressively increased until it
expanded into a big factory. One day, narrating his life story to his
friends, he said: "Just as a young child grows into boyhood after
fifteen years, so does a business. I have not reached this stage in one
day. It has been a fifteen-year struggle."
In truth every piece of work is accomplished in "fifteen" years,
be it of an individual or a nation, be it a business or a social service.
Those who long for a recipe for instant success are, in fact, living in a
fool’s paradise. It is all very well to say that a hop, step and jump
can take you right to your destination. But as soon as one comes face to
face with reality, one realises that this is just an illusion. Glenn
Cunningham, a sportsman who became champion of the one-mile race, saw the
school in which he was studying go up in flames. His own experience was
terrible. His feet were so badly burnt that he could not even move his
legs. The doctors lost all hope of his ever walking or running. They said
that only a miracle could save him. Surprisingly Glenn Cunningham’s
incapacity excited in him a new zeal and eagerness to walk and run. All
his mental faculties concentrated on his decision to walk. So he began to
experiment with different kinds of exercises till he hit upon a novel
idea. It was to drag himself along by holding on to the handle of a moving
plough. When his feet could even so much as rest on the ground, he felt
encouraged, and intensified his efforts. Finally, the miracle of which the
doctors had so despaired, took place. The new technique was a tremendous
success and, ultimately, he could not only walk, but could also run. Later
he entered for a race. He set up a new record and became a champion of the
one-mile race. But this grand success was not achieved in a few days. He
had to spend "fifteen years" realizing his goal. Only after a
fifteen year stint had it been possible for him to become a flat racing
champion. In truth, no success is possible in this world without working
for "fifteen years." It is God alone who has the power to
achieve instant success. q |
Subscribe
Now
|
