Success never defines character

We may often assume that successful people have great character but may not be necessarily true always. There are many successful people in life, who may have achieved success in work, sports, cinema or other fields but may not be a role model for the next generation, in terms of their character. This is an important lesson in life that “Success does not define character in life”.

It is like the successful people may have achieved success in life by whatever means, but they may not have the character of a person, whom you may like to follow. We all know of many actors, sportspersons, business persons and corporate honchos, who have been successful in their respective fields but can never be a role model for the future generation.

It is important to remember ,that the real adorable people ,have a character ,much beyond their success. They are humble, grounded, always willing to give back more than they get from society and keen to share their knowledge and expertise ,with everyone around them.

I personally know of a father and daughter duo. Father was a civil servant and one of the most highly regarded and respected person. Even today , he is finding ways and means to give back to society. The daughter on the other hand is a highly qualified and successful Chief executive , of a multinational in the USA but is arrogant to the core and can never be a role model for the younger generation.

So, the simple lesson in life is that ,success never defines character. Our simplicity, honesty, integrity, behaviour and willingness to give back to society more than what we have benefited , defines our character. Successful people may not be remembered beyond their term or even their life but people with impeccable character live much beyond their life and are remembered for generations.

While all of us want to be successful in life, we need to remember that our character is , what defines us to society and not necessarily our success. I am not denying the fact the successful people may make an impact and make their presence felt ,through their success in whatever field they are in. But, others forget them sooner than later as success is not eternal, whilst character is.

If we recall our childhood, we always respected teachers, elders in the family or neighbours around us who treated us well and not necessarily the most successful people or the most qualified. Both education and success does not take us far ,unless character is embedded in us.

Let us focus on building our character more than making an impact as a successful person in whatever field ,we have chosen to excel. Success has to be embedded by the character, which the next generation will adore and not the other way around.

Let our character always precede our success in life.

S Ramesh Shankar

5th Jan 2025

Failure does not determine life’s trajectory

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

Plan vis a vis actual, is life

I was recently reading somewhere that “Plan versus Actual is life” and I tend to agree. We all dream big and aspire to fulfil our dreams to the best of our ability.

However, when reality bites us, we realise that what we planned is different from our current realities and that is life. This does not mean we should not plan, nor it means that the current reality may not drive us towards our goals.

This means that either our plan was inadequate or the execution beyond the plan, was not good enough. It is almost like the new year resolutions ,most of us make. We are high on enthusiasm when we make those resolutions but within weeks, if not days, we realise that reality is far from the promises, we made to ourselves.

It is almost like the gym ,in most offices today. While all employees desire to have the best of gym in their workplace; after a few months, if not weeks of its inauguration, we see that most gyms are either closed down or highly underutilised.

This is not because a gym at work ,is not a desirable thing. It also does not mean that employees do not want to be healthy. What is means is, there is a huge gap between plan vis a vis actuals and that is life.

If we move to the business situation, we understand it much better. All of us plan grandiosely. However, even before the end of the first quarter ,of a new financial year, we talk of revising the plans for the subsequent quarters since the actuals of the first quarter makes us realise the ground realities.

So, we need to realise that our life and work are not very different. At both places, we need to plan and then execute it meticulously. The gap between plan and actuals, is life. We need to realise that our life will be as good as our planning and execution.

If we either do not plan well or we do not execute well, we face failure in life and that disappoints us. It may be simple to assume that we need to go back to the drawing board and look at our plans or the gap between our plans and execution strategies.

Both at life and work, our planning has to be continual and evolving. Our execution also has to adapt to the changing needs of the environment. If we have planned well and implement our plans meticulously, the chances of disappointments are less. However, the environment around us may not always be under our control.

So our plans and implementation strategies have to be adaptive and evolving. We need to fine tune them ,keeping in mind the changing circumstances and our own moving milestones.

If we positively accept life, then our ability to execute what we have planned more realistically ,becomes a reality. On the other hand, if we surrender to current reality and refuse to change ourselves, then our plans will continue to be ,building castles in the air.

Let’s start living life positively from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

2nd Jan 2025