Someone shared this amazing story about Socrates. The message was so powerful I want to share it with you guys.
Just in case, if you didn’t know him, Socrates is a Greek moral philosopher who lived 2500 years back. He is regarded as the first person to influence the current Western philosophy.
The story goes like this…
A young man asked Socrates “What is the secret to becoming successful?”. To which Socrates didn’t reply anything and asked to come to the river next day. The young man was so excited about what the great Socrates is going to teach him. Next day happened, as said he went to the river and Socrates was waiting there for him. Socrates asked, “If he wishes to walk with him to the river” to which the young man readily agreed. They walked towards the centre of the river and suddenly Socrates took the young man to surprise, he dunked him into the water. The boy struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and held him until he started to turn blue. When the boy thought all was lost and he is certainly going to die, Socrates pulled his head out of the water. The young man sputtered water and coughed. He gasped for a deep breath of air. Socrates then asked him “What did you want the most when you were there?”. The boy replied “Air” as he was panting.
Socrates then said ” When you want success as badly as you want the air, then you will get it. There is no other secret.”
With that, the story ends. Now, What an enchanting way of looking at success. Secret really is how much we want it. I can share many instances in my life where I felt I was successful in some particular task only because I really needed that victory. I failed numerous times and my confidence that I would ever succeed was deteriorating. I wanted that success badly, to prove myself. Now looking back on those moments I really am happy those failures happened. Those failures boosted my “want” and kept me going through the tough times, where I would have mostly given up if not for those failures. Bigger “want” reflects in my planning and attitude which is very difficult to achieve otherwise.
Are failures the only way to increase the “want”? That’s a very interesting question to which I have a very vague answer.
I have been trying to simulate failures to increase my want for success. How? I really publicly declare even my smallest of failure with shame. That internal shame helps me increase my “want”. This might not work for everybody because it matters how the person values other people’s opinion of him/her. Successful personalities like Cristiano Ronaldo, Elon Musk and Donald Trump have worked the similar way.
Above is just a way I increase my want. I will be more than happy to hear your personal opinions. Have a great day.
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