Excellence is a never ending journey in life. It is like a journey ,with no destination in sight. We can improve ourselves every day of our lives and in every way. The best examples of practising excellence ,are our sportspersons. Even the world champions in any sport, never think they have arrived. They always think, they have a lot more to learn and do to excel in their sport.

Being in the HR function, I have been asked by many employees as to -“how do i plan my career ?” . I would always say – try to excel in whatever you do. Be the best that you can be and nobody can ignore you ,in your career. Imagine a cricketer scoring consistently in domestic tournaments ,year after year. The selectors may find it difficult to ignore him for the national team ,unless they are open to public criticism ,after they have selected the team.

The path to excellence is a quest in quality. We can and may be ,we should never consider ourselves, as arrived ,in whatever we do. If we are a painter, we could be the best in the state or the country. We could even become one of the best in the world. But, the journey cannot end there. What do you need to do to remain ,on top of the world ?

The best musicians across the world in vocal or instrumental will not rest with a grammy award or any other world recognition. They are aware that although they may have attained global recognition, there is still a lot to learn and grow. They will continue to practise every single day and strive for excellence ,in whichever branch of music they pursue.

Life is no different. We may be working in any field. We may be a student, a junior at the work place or the CEO of a company. We may be running a successful business or even a sportsperson, who has won the gold at the last Olympics. It does not matter. We need to realise that the quest for excellence ,for all of us , is a never ending journey.

We need to continually strive to be the best we can be ,at a particular time . If we relax at that point of time, we may be left behind and others may overtake us. The journey to excellence is a life long one. We cannot rest ,unless we do not want to be the best.

I have met people from different walks of life. Ordinary people with extra ordinary dreams. They set their goal and work towards it, with zest. They do not rest even after they have achieved their best. This is because they realise ,that even a world record ,does not remain static for ever. What was the best and a world record in the last olympics ,may not even qualify for the next olympics.

We need to learn and grow every single day ,of our lives. We need to reset our goals ,as soon as we achieve them ,if we strive to be the best in whatever we do. There is no end game ,for excellence. There could be milestones along the way but the end will always be ,like an elusive dream. We need to strive to achieve the impossible ,by continuously striving to be the best.

Let the journey of excellence for us begin today.

S Ramesh Shankar

20th Jan 2025

Life is a mixture of successes and failures. We may succeed in many of our actions and fail in some. We need to take both ,in our stride. While successes make us happier, failures may leave us sad. But one needs to realise that we can learn from both our successes and failures.

In my book, failures possibly teach us more than successes. We have so many instances of sportspersons teaching us valuable lessons, on how to learn from failures.

I was recently reading about two world champions ,in the field of sports. Both of them narrated that they failed more than they succeeded ,in their sporting career. But the crucial learning is that ,their failures made them learn more and ultimately ,they evolved as world champions.

Let me narrate a few of my failures and how I learnt from them. The first incident was when I was in school. I was the elected school pupil leader and was to lead the school march past ,on our annual sports day. Our school was in an Air Force campus. The chief guest was the top commander of the Air Force station. As expected, he was punctual and dot on time ,for the ceremony.

I had come early to school in my white uniform. But, while playing on the ground, I fell down and soiled my clothes. My friends suggested that I go home and change my uniform , as they were soiled. I cycled my way back home for 5 kms and then back to school, and in that process, was late for the ceremony. The deputy school pupil leader was asked to lead the school parade.

This was the most important lesson on punctuality for me ,in my life. From then on till today, I am normally very punctual unless I default due to reasons beyond my control, which would be very rare. So, this failure of mine taught me one of the most important lesson in life ,to be punctual.

The second failure was when I finished my graduation and tried for admission ,to leading business schools in India. I cleared the entrance test of two of the best business schools for HR in India. However, I could not clear the interview ,since my general knowledge and awareness was poor. This led to me to evolve as a quiz master in the future and also work hard and lead HR in some of the best organisations in India.

I would not state that ,successes do not teach you lessons. My career progression was excellent and each step ahead taught me to be grounded and be a life long learner. Success can sometimes blind you but if you keep your feet on the ground and are willing to be humble, the chances of your doing better in life and career ,is higher.

We need to realise that life will always be a combination of successes and failures. We need to learn from both of them. My life teaches me that possibly failures teach you more important life lessons than successes. But, if we are willing ,even successes teach us lessons.

Let us learn to learn from both failure and success ,in life.

S Ramesh Shankar

19th Jan 2025

The other day I was watching a TV sitcom, where the guest, who was being interviewed ,was a successful police officer. However, he attempted to clear the civil services exams, multiple times and failed. Even though, he failed multiple times, he never gave up ,in his mind and continued to strive for his dream ,to come true.

Many of us have laudable dreams and we work towards that goal. We strive hard and toil our way through , to achieve our dream. However, when there are multiple obstacles on our way or we fail a few times, we tend to give up and never realise our goal.

However, one can learn a good lesson from the sports persons. Recently,I was inspired by a tennis great, who retired after being a world champion for many years. He narrated of how he failed more than he succeeded in all the games, he played in life. Every failure taught him valuable lessons and enabled him to become a world champion.

When we see a star in sports or even films, we do not know how much they may have struggled to reach that stardom. We see their star status and feel that is easy for them. Their struggles, trials and tribulations get hidden behind their success today. There are innumerable stories of sports persons, movie stars and other celebrities, who have struggled their way through and lived through their failures, to succeed in life.

I am reminded of even an ex President of India. He was from a humble poor family and did not have enough resources ,to have two meals a day and even educate himself. However, he had a dream and vision for India. He overcame all these obstacles and rose to head the highest defence research body in India and later became the President of India and has also been conferred the highest civilian award in India.

All these people teach us a simple lessons in life. They tell us, through their life journeys, that “Failure does not determine life’s trajectory”. They have failed more than they have succeeded ,in their respective field but yet they have reached the peak of their respective domains.

I have learnt a few simple lessons from these wonderful people, which I would like to share for all of us to learn and adopt in our lives :

A. We need to have a dream and vision of what we want to achieve in life

B. We need to work zealously to achieve that goal, come what may, on our way.

C. Every failure teaches us valuable lessons in life, if we are willing to accept them ,as our steps to success.

D. We should never give up during our journey, despite of all failures, as they teach us relevant lessons and pave the way for our success in life.

E. The most successful people in life ,fail more than than they succeed but never give up until they achieve their mission in life.

Let our journey continue till we reach our goal.

S Ramesh Shankar

5th January 2025