Loser!

I definitely did not want my first blog entry of the year with this title. But, I was pondering over the nature of losers. 

(1) Losers have mere dreams - But, these are not goals. Dreams become goals only when one tries to achieve it. When dreams remain wishes, they do not become goals. For e.g., one may want an Audi R8. But, what steps are taken to achieve that goal? If none are taken, then the object of desire remains in the domain of dreams and not goals. More dreams, less goals => loser. 

(2) Underpowered - Losers achieve when the fruits are (proverbially) low hanging. Any one can pick them  up. What makes it disgusting is that they even celebrate it. They do not have power to sustain intensity for a decent amount of time. They just run out of power. 

(3) Under-willed - Great things are achieved mostly by perseverence than by brilliance. Achieving great things requires one to go on and on and on (pointed by the ad of Duracell). Losers simply lack the will to persevere. They may be able to achieve stuff that may need intensity but not those that require perseverence. They simply give up too easily. 

(4) Find Excuses - This is a masterpiece work of losers. I find that this reason alone should be sufficient to identify a loser. This work of art requires shifting the blame to a third party (non-self). 'I lost because of .......' (feel free to fill up the blanks with most imaginative sentences). They even superficially believe that! Mind is indeed strange.

(5) Procrastinate - Paul Graham wrote a lovely piece of work on procrastination. It is difficult for losers to be idle. So, they choose to engage themselves thoroughly with trivial or unimportant work. This way they even get a wonderful excuse of 'not finding enough time' - Tom Peters used to say 'You make time if you care'. How true! 

I truly shudder when I think that I derived all the five attributes listed above looking at no one but me. People are usually surprised when I say that. I am supposed to be a successful person. The sad part is that I used to believe that. 

I have faced losses that are truly irrevocable. But there are always opportunities to redeem in some cases. Confucius (and few other great people) have told that greatness lies not in not falling at all, but rising every time one falls. I atleast have decided to stand up again, this time.