I was watching the ongoing India-England series when an advertisement grabbed my attention. It was Shah Rukh Khan (complete with overgrown cranial fungus) bleating about how the team was focused on ‘jeet, jeet aur sirf jeet’ (victory, victory and only victory). It was all part of the promotion of a film titled - decidedly eccentrically- “Chake De India” (yes, it rhymes with something rather coarse but then hey, the director was asking for it when he chose the title)
But it set my rather ‘umble mind ticking – is focusing on victory enough? On paper, that sounds good. After all, winning is rather important – to the victor go the spoils and all that sort of rot. And if one can focus on victory, surely success is assured.
Uh-huh. Neat. There’s just one teeny little problem.
Your opponent (s).
No matter how much you prepare to pulverise him, her or it. No matter how determined you are to win, the person or team standing in your way will always have a chance to stop you. All you can do is your best. And hope that it is enough. Not doing your best – now, that is criminal. And focusing purely on victory can actually take attention away from doing your best. Quite simply because sometimes you come out on top even though you know that you did not really do your best. If you are focusing on victory, you will feel that you have achieved your objective and celebrate, but the truth will be that you just got lucky and need to work harder.
All of which makes me realise that Baron Pierre be Coubertin (the lad credited with being the father of the modern Olympic Games) got it right when he said:
“The important thing in life is not victory but combat; it is not to have vanquished but to have fought well.”
Another problem about the winning-is-all-that-matters attitude is that it tends to make one focus on oneself and not accord any respect to one’s opponent. These days, it is common to one see people snarling at those they assume are their rivals, whether in sport or romance or profession! A bit of respect would surely not hurt. As one of the most memorable pieces of advertising messages about the Olympics said:
"You are my adversary, you are not my enemy.
For your existence gives me strength,
Your will gives me courage,
Your spirit ennobles me;
Though I aim to defeat you,
Should I succeed, I won't humiliate you.
Instead, I would honour you,
For without you, I would be a lesser man."
And do not give me that rot about ‘no one remembers losers.’ What about Leonidas of Sparta and his stand at Thermopylae? What about Rana Pratap at Haldighati? What about the Rani of Jhansi?
It’s not all about winning. Believe me.
4 comments:
Going through this entry reminds me a few words once my friend said to me..."Do you know the name of first person who climbed Mt Everest?" My answer was yes'Edmund Hillary'.And next question was what about the 2nd, 3rd or 4th. I was blank...
Its just a matter of few seconds that makes a difference...But i still believe that giving 100% for anything you do (personal or professional) might not result in your winning but the satisfation of giving your best always makes "U" a winner...in front of your own self, if not others...
Cheers!!!
Nice post Nimish unclessss though I do not completely agree. Isn't it a bit cynical to say that whoever wins is a matter of chance and not really his efforts. Winning isn't all. However, there's no harm if you aspire to win.
Did I ever say that victory is purely a matter of chance? I just said that sometimes one wins even when one is not at one's best - it is on these occasions where one gets lucky.
Interestingly, no one knows who reached Everest first - Norgay or Hilary. They never told anyone! And the most famous figure on Everest is a person who never managed to climb it - Thomas Mallory. He died attempting to reach the summit but is still remembered for his effort. I rest my case.
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