The measure of success...

Well, I would like to start this blog by acknowledging the influence of Sri Harivansh Rai Bachchan on me and my mindset in a last few days. Its been over 7 months, since I quit my job to start out something of my own. Its been a tough but a very enriching journey so far. The most important learning has been the very definition of success. I now realise how relative the term success is.
Every person has his/her sense of success and satisfaction. The question here is, when can a person start calling himself successful. When can he start taking pride in what he is doing. Many people actually like to go along with the flow and go wherever their life takes them.
I would illustrate the above points with the reference of some people whom I closely noticed over the last few months. I will call these three people Mr. A, Ms. B and Mr.C.

Mr. A passed out from IIT Delhi in 2004. He worked with a software firm for 3 years before he realised that his calling in life was something else. He ventured out in search of his ambition and started a business in the field of marketing. In a few months time, he started doing pretty well and earned almost twice as much as he was earning in the IT firm. Since then he has been very happy with the manner in his life has shaped up. He feels that the best thing about his life is the fact that he is the sole decision maker in his life and is not governed by orders. He works from 9 to 5 and parties hard on weekends. He would soon get married to a girl with whom he has been for almost 4 years. Most of his colleagues in the IT firm now have a salary which easily matches his income and also enjoy other perquisites.

Ms. B studied in a Regional Engineering College in Bangalore. Like all other alumni of her college, she got placed in TCS. She is extremely happy with the work culture in TCS and also the fact that it may give her an opportunity to go abroad keeps her enthusiasm going. She has been dating a guy from her college since the final year of her college and they are working together at TCS. They both think that their combined salary is enough for both of them to lead a happy married life. They want to stay loyal to TCS for a couple of years before taking the nuptial path.

Mr. C is a graduate from IIT Bombay from the class of 2006. He worked with Microsoft for a few months, and realised that he is good enough to have his own company. He got together with a few of his friends, and they started out in the domain of Software Service Exports. Due to their genius, they got hold of the biggest clients and grew bigger each day. They started working on their proprietary products and also received funding from PE firms. Recently they got featured in the Young Turks programme on CNBC aswell. The ongoing recession has hit their business, but after a quick analysis and correction of their projection numbers they are looking to break even by the end of this quarter. This means, next quarter onwards, their venture would have a positive cashflow. For them the sky is the limit and they are aiming for something higher than that.

Now if we analyse the above three people, they all think that they are successful. While A might think that B isnt successful enough and C might think in a similar fashion of both A and B. This is where a person needs to draw a line between happiness, laidbackness and frenzy. A is a successful entrepreneur, but his level of success does not match C on any scale. While B is working for a software firm, but along with her partner, she would be able to match the level of A's earnings. Many of A's friends feel that he could have worked a little harder to promote his company and he could have almost doubled his income. But A feels that giving 40 odd hours a week to his business is enough. Similarly, people feel that B should be a little more ambitious and should think of an MBA before actually settling in. But her priorities are different. C in last couple of years has lost touch with a lot of his friends, but thats the cost which he has had to pay for the success. But the bottom line is that they all are happy and successful.

Using the same logic to gauge my level of success, I feel I have a long long way to go. Infact, I have seen a couple of major failures in last few months, but I am sure they have been huge lessons for me. And now, I have started setting smaller goals for myself, which is the right way to go about doing things. Pressurising yourself is very easy, but taking a leaf out each failure is what makes these attempts count. In the end, it is the grit and the determination which matters. Recently someone posted the poem of Sri HR Bachchan on YouthPad. Before I end, I would like to quote a few lines from that poem.

नन्हीं चींटी जब दाना लेकर चलती है,
चढ़ती दीवारों पर, सौ बार फिसलती है।
मन का विश्वास रगों में साहस भरता है,
चढ़कर गिरना, गिरकर चढ़ना न अखरता है।
आख़िर उसकी मेहनत बेकार नहीं होती,
कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती।

I sometimes feel that, the success of Amitabh Bachchan can actually be attributed to his father sitting at home, writing these magical lines...