It has often been stated by many researchers as well as inspirational and motivational speakers that to succeed or make a mark in any field, one has to focus on the set objective, work hard, persist, and persevere irrespective of any kind of obstacles that came in the way. One has to have a steely determination and passion to achieve what one’s set out to achieve. On the other hand, there are some who believe that do whatever drives you to work or pursue any chosen activity – be it literary, creative, inventive, sportive, entertaining – and you will eventually achieve it. By pursuing any activity or interest that drives you, you are at least working with all the enthusiasm, dedication, and above all, keeping peace and stability of your mind. And more recently, someone has even stated that you do what you like with full dedication and money will follow, whereas another one has written that you can be an expert in any field after focusing/studying/working in that field for 10,000 hours. Since the later two approaches are still being debated, let’s keep these aside for the moment.

If one integrates the first two points, one can safely state that whatever drives you passionately is all you need to achieve success. However, according to an article published in the August 4th, 2018 issue of the Ottawa Citizen, some researchers are now questioning this long-held belief. According to these researchers of human psychology, many people with passionate drive to achieve their objective give up their pursuit if the going gets tough. Researchers are now suggesting that people should pursue their set goal not only with a passionate drive, but also with an open mind so that when they encounter obstacles or other impediments forcing them to stop their pursuit, they don’t feel discouraged or any sort of personal remorse or embarrassment. They should be open to changing their objective including modifying the initial goal or follow a different goal altogether.

Although I agree with the researchers’ idea to pursue any activity with an open mindset rather than a fixed mindset – the former provides a latitude to adjust or adapt new skills as required by the changing circumstances or environment whereas the latter implies total unwillingness to change. A person with an open mindset is flexible and much more likely to succeed and accomplish his/her goal than his/her counterpart with a fixed or rigid mindset refusing to change skills and/or behaviour with the changing times. Nonetheless, people with either mindset are likely to encounter problems or impediments on their way to achieving their set goals, so much so that a good number may even give up their pursuit. Researchers approve of this approach – giving up one’s pursuit because of some problems or personal inability.

And, that’s where I respectfully disagree with these researchers.

Facing and resolving problems are an essential part of the process to accomplish any worthy goal. A journey on any unknown terrain is always infested with hidden unknowns and a multitude of uncertainties. Giving up the journey just because the terrain is unpaved, rough, bushy, hilly, and has no light, shelter, and guideposts is no bravery. At least some with an open mindset, still passionate about finishing their journey, are likely to wait for the dawn of hope to break and figure out the way to proceed under the sun-lit skies whereas others, especially those with the fixed mindset, are likely to freeze out of self-doubt or fear and ready to give up their pursuit.

In my opinion, there is no gain without pain. When you embark on a totally unknown and untested path, you expect some some tumbles on the way. That’s normal. What good is the passionate drive if you are willing to accept the failure or stop treading the moment the first major hurdle shows its ugly face? At such moments of blockage, discouragement, and helplessness, one needs to muster all the resolve, patience, persistence, perseverance, and above all, need to calm down, and use all the skill set and rational mind to resolve the problem or ride over the hump. Diluting or changing the initially set objective is not the answer; if you believe it’s worth carrying it, then you must pursue it, even if it means riding over one bump after another. Sooner or later you are going to find a paved road with the desired guideposts enabling you to reach your destination. When you reach there, you will simply savor the journey and hardly remember the kind of bumpy walk or ride.

Let me give you my own example. I always dreamed of becoming a well acclaimed and financially successful writer. I started living this dream after working as a paid worker for almost fifty years. I had to wait that long to achieve the financial security and freedom one needs to raise a family including well-educated children who can be proud contributors to the well-being of the society. I published my first fiction (an erotic romance) when I turned 75. Over the next two years, I published two more books – a non-fiction and another fiction. This passionate drive to write continues.

What’s challenging me now is to find a successful marketing strategy because I earnestly want to increase the number of readers/buyers of my books. And I am steadily working on it, experiencing my share of failures. Each and every failure in finding the right strategy isn’t discouraging me to continue with my passion to write. Rather it’s making me stronger and stronger and pushing me to learn more and more about marketing through the social media as well as other sources. I am open to all the learning by reading books, manuals, webinars, corresponding with the experts, and on and on.

My mission is still driving me with an open mindset. ‘It shouldn’t be long’, I keep whispering to myself.

But I promise to inform you all how and when I reach my destination.

Tags Ambition, goal, drive, dedication, hard work, destination, writing, marketing, books

I was a science student in high school. I studied physics as a part of the regular curriculum. While the physics teacher taught us about the laws of motion and the concepts of gravity, force, acceleration, momentum, etc., he mentioned the name of Issac Newton – a scientist who had discovered and introduced these concepts and several other phenomenons based on these. That was the first time I heard Newton’s name. And ever since then I considered Isaac Newton as a great physicist.

How wrong I have been? He wasn’t only a great physicist, but also a great astronomer focused on the discovery, motion, and characterization of our planets including the sun, moon, earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. I never thought of Newton as an astronomer like Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, or Edmund Halley. How have I found Newton as an astronomer? From recently read Gale E. Christianson’s book on Isaac Newton.

This short note neither provides a review of this book nor dwells on the scientific research findings of Newton as these are well documented on several Internet sites. What I want to share with my readers is my view of Newton as a human-being as portrayed in this book.

Newton was born in rural England’s county of Lincoln in December 1942 (almost 300 hundred years before me). He was born in a well-to-do farm family headed by a not so literate father. He started as an average student during his early schooling, but by the time he was eleven years old, he was already mapping sun’s movements and shadows in his yard to tell the time of the day, and by twenty-four, he had already developed his theories of gravity, light, and mathematical subjects like calculus and trigonometry. Even though his family wanted him to look after the family’s farm and land holdings, his teachers seriously persuaded his mother to let him pursue higher education. What a loss it would have been to the scientific world had his mother gotten her way?

He studied, taught, and carried his scientific work at the University of Cambridge – one of the best two universities in England (the other is Oxford). As an individual, he spent his entire life without any close friend (with the exception of one person who stayed and worked with him for twenty years, including the time spent in a room shared at the university’s dormitory), immediate family or relatives (even though he had two brothers and a sister after his widowed mother re-married a rich farmer/landlord). Newton spent his solitary life totally immersed in books, reading, writing, and creative thinking – all leading to new frontiers and discoveries in science, mathematics, and astronomy. There were times he would be awake all night watching the movement of stars and planets, miss his scheduled meetings or appointments, miss, skip, or forget to eat his meals as his hunger of knowledge outweighed his hunger of food and life’s other essentials. He was simply dedicated to his scientific work and discoveries – so much so that nothing else mattered.

This bookish self-centered and introverted genius, on the other hand, wasn’t that good dealing with people – peers, competitors, or adversaries. Even when he headed the Royal Society and later the Royal Mint in London, he wouldn’t forget or forgive anyone who had done any harm to him, gone against his wishes, questioned his work and/or discovery, challenged his reputation, or claimed ownership of his work and/or discovery. This world-famous reputed and powerful scientist walked on his self-chosen path.

Sir Isaac Newton died at the age of eighty-four and was buried at Westminster Abbey in April 1727 (in the company of Charles Darwin and several Royals; the latest burial here was that of Stephen Hawking – another physicist from Cambridge).

Indeed, Newton was a great scientist, a real genius, and a prolific researcher/creator, but when it came to interacting with other people – both friends and foes – he was no different than any other creative and dedicated artist – being inward, safeguarding his/her territory, sensitive to any negativity or criticism of his/her work, and above all, seeking utmost contentment in his/her successfully completed and well acclaimed work. As a creative, analytic, and passionate writer, I can feel how lost and uncomfortable he would have felt outside his work domain. For creative and dedicated artists and inventors with one-track mind, their work is everything. They breathe work, live for work, and find all of their contentment in work. Successes and failures don’t affect them or slow them down. Their mission is to carry-on until they have successfully achieved what they wanted; once one mission is achieved, they instantly move on to another, and another. No rest, no pause is required as their fertile minds are ready to work on the next task.

I don’t think any common mortal can really comprehend what really goes on in the minds of such artists or inventors. In the eyes of the happy-go-lucky majority, such reclusive people are simply eye-sores, anti-social, and difficult to live with. These people are simply considered as misfits and outliers until their contribution, discovery, or invention improves the well-being of the society or people-at-large. Then these artists/inventors gain all the recognition and rewards for their hard and dedicated work. Unfortunately, it mostly happens long after their death.

Tags Newton, scientist/inventor/artist, creative, diligent worker, recluse, recognition.