Feel like giving up? Ok, just take the small next step.

This post is part of a larger post and will tell a small life story that taught me a lesson.

There are a couple of stories behind this lesson.

The 8-ball pool.

Quick summary of 8 ball pool : Two players, each pots only their target balls(solids or stripes), after all target balls are potted by a player, potting the ball with number 8, wins the game.

I was playing 8 ball pool with a friend. Although our billiards skills are nowhere close to being called good, but still we enjoy it. On that particular day, I was playing worse than usual. I was not able to pot a single ball in the first 5 turns that I got, I was bound to lose now.
Meanwhile my friend had smashed all of this target balls to the pots and just missed potting the 8 ball. Now all he had to do was pot 8 ball in his next turn. I could already see a confident smile on his face. I had given up, but gave my self a pep talk “Let’s try to give each shot the best to my ability”.
And what happened next was something we both couldn’t believe, after being miserable in the previous turns, in this single turn I potted all the target balls and the 8 ball in one go!.
I was amazed and happy and my friend was razed and crappy.

Lesson Learnt: Never give up. Keep the negative thoughts at bay and don’t let them take away your focus. Give “your best” shot, regardless of what you think the result might be.

The Mathematics scare.

As they say “I used to be good in Mathematics before they put the alphabet in it”.  After Alegbra, Mathematics meant trying to find meaning of life. Most of the things weren’t making sense. I missed some of the foundational concepts and subsequently it became more difficult. I struggled through Mathematics since then. I started becoming fearful of it. Studying it was becoming constant embarrassment. During under graduation I finally even failed in the subject, and that too not just once but twice!!
This was again a situation where I could have said that Mathematics is a lost cause. Again some self-talk and I decided that I will give my best and for the entire semester will daily study a little bit. I was still struggling daily as I couldn’t have built the damaged foundation within a semester, but still things started to make some sense.

And then this happened(result):

85% for someone who had been struggling to get 40% from last several years now was just unbelievable and truly amazing. This was again a re-enforcement of the “never say never” rule for me.
Recollecting this instance has given me strength to continue learning Mathematics even today and some day I believe that I will be able to truly master it and repair that damaged foundation

 

The gist:

It is all about sticking to your fights, sometimes you will be down but it doesn’t mean you can’t get up. Try some persistence and try to take one step at a time.
As they say it “Inch by Inch and everything is a Cinch”.

This post is part of Lessons Journal