In life there are several things like “quitting” that we are told not to do in life. But sometimes you may be good in one thing but you may have chosen the wrong field and you may feel like quitting
but you don’t do so because you have been brought up with the mentality that hard-working and determined persons don’t quit but instead with their sheer determination they achieve success, something like what Thomas Edison did when he invented the electric bulb, maybe not as dramatically. Also, there is this pressure from the people around you, directly or indirectly. But there is nothing wrong in quitting just make sure that Be A Quitter, But Never Quit Trying!
In the same lines, we are also told that we should always move forward in life, no matter what difficulty we face. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, “I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards.”
I always try to connect the small pieces with the big picture, that’s how I was able to understand it early in life and also it helps me that I always follow my heart.
Whenever I try to learn something out of interest, even though I may know the basics, I may not be able to understand the concept in its entirety (at least I should feel satisfied), in those cases I prefer to start from the basics again. One such example would be my project work in the final year of my graduation; I chose a topic I didn’t have a clue about, though I had little knowledge about the stock market. But even today I don’t know much about the financial market even though I’ve worked in the industry and in that process learned so much about financial markets. First I thought let me get a broader perspective of investing and financial markets of so I read the book, “Investing For Dummies” – even the project I was doing was “Value Investing”. I thought it would do the trick, but I wasn’t satisfied. So this time, I read the book “Value Investing For Dummies”, I thought it would do the trick, but I wasn’t satisfied. Even after reading those books, I had to watch and read countless videos and articles on the topic (and this continued till I completed my project). I thought it would do the trick, so at last, I was able to start my project work. So I used 90% of my time to learn the basics again and again, so I started working on my project way before the start date but I actually started working on the project way after the start date. I’m sure people who are eager to learn will go much beyond this. But why can’t we apply the same principles in our life?
One thing is for sure, “In life, going backwards when you realize you chose the wrong path takes common sense and courage but going backwards to wake the same path again takes hunger and foolishness”
“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.” – C.S.Lewis
Suppose you are running and suddenly you see a pit in front (which could be crossed by jumping), so what you’ll do is take several steps backwards and come running towards the pit again because this time around you know what you are facing and know how to tackle it and you jump and cross the pit. That explains why I was going back to the basics again and again during my project work, each time I did that I was better understanding the problem. In life, the mistake we do is that most of the time we try to cross the pit at one go; which “most” of us can’t do. Unless you’re really talented it’s just not possible but anyway we try it.
People who gave up the security of a full-time job to start their own business were definitely stepping backwards without knowing the outcome but if they hadn’t stepped backwards we wouldn’t have companies like Amazon.
After graduation, he found work at several firms on Wall Street including Fitel, Bankers Trust, and the investment firm D.E. Shaw where he met his wife Mackenzie and was named the youngest vice president in 1990. While his career in finance was extremely lucrative, Bezos chose to make a risky move into the nascent world of e-commerce. He quit his job in 1994, moved to Seattle and targeted the untapped potential of the internet market by opening an online bookstore. On a long walk in Central Park, Shaw tried to talk Jeff out of quitting, but Jeff couldn’t get over the fact that the Internet was growing 2,400% per year. He decided he’d rather try and fail at a startup than never try at all.
Even in my case, after I resigned from my first job, I tried hard to get a job but every time I was rejected for reasons known to them. But when I realized I won’t get a job, I changed my approach and started looking for internships – even though it was definitely a step backwards from a well-paying job in an MNC to an internship in startups – and I got selected for an internship.
Again one thing is for sure, the world, most of the time uses illogical methods to recognize talent. So in life, be that car that’s flexible enough to go back whenever needed.
As for me, I’m still going backwards with the “hope” that someday I’ll leap forward.
