Saturday, May 05, 2012

The one in the mirror!!!

Dear friends & wellwishers,
I would like to share a very small but true story with all of you and it goes like...
Pete Maravich's only chance to go to college was to earn a basketball scholarship. As a teen his dad didn't let him go to bed until he made 100 free throws IN A ROW. At times, he used to miss the last shot on purpose TO KEEP PRACTICING. Pistol Pete (The name he earned) got his scholarship. In college he scored 3,667 POINTS, still a Division I record that stands today... all BEFORE that 3-point shot existed.
Isn't it amazing!!!Awesome!!!Astounding!!!
I wonder what if he had targeted to surpass the existing record of 3. Had he ever reached the record of 3,667 shots? No way...
People often do compare themselves with others. It is a human nature. We compare ourselves with our friends & even foes. Parents compare their children with other children. Sportsmen compare themselves with other sportsmen and it goes on... In doing so unfortunately somewhere we limit our potential . When we keep the target to break anybody’s record or to achieve something more then what others have achieved so far, we undermine what we are really capable of. If keeping role models restricts our potential, it is better not to have anyone. If a bench mark set by others confines what we can actually accomplish it is better not to have any.
We consider others as our competitors or references but forget the most crucial one. Our biggest competitor in the entire universe is the one in the mirror!!! Every time we just have to surpass just that one.
Believe me, we can do miracles in doing so. The ones, who have done it, have achieved something which was considered as impossible or sometimes beyond imagination.
We just have to break our last record each day. We just have to put some effort more than what we had put yesterday. We just to create a new bench mark each day.
Love the one in the mirror & love others but when it comes to challenge, challenge only the one in the mirror.
With a reflecting smile,
Pragati Soni