“Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.”
~ J. Paul Getty
By all accounts, I should be called a success. I have lived a good life. I have acquired all the trappings of a successful middle class person in India. I am as healthy as reasonably can be expected of a man with my background and age. I have taken care of all my liabilities and survived to a stage where I am relatively free to do what I want with my life. I had a great marriage which lasted forty plus years filled with all the good and bad things that all marriages go through, but on balance was a successful one.
Yet, when I look back on my life I find that the most important aspect of my success was striking oil. I most certainly rose early and continue to do so even now; worked hard and loved every moment of it, but the success as perceived by the world was by and large a matter of providence and being in the right place at the right time.
Very few people however are willing to give me credit for repeatedly striking oil. Just last night, my mentee and adopted nephew Pravin spoke to me on the phone and kept asking me for advise on how to be successful and was quite frustrated when I kept telling him that he should give some time and success will fall on his lap.
I dedicate this post to him and refer him to two of my earlier posts, both written on LBC topics on which a group of bloggers write every Friday on the same pre-chosen topic. The first one is on Ambition and the next is on Skepticism Vs Disbelief.
Coincidentally, a very interesting TED talk came my way this morning and while not being quite as inconsequential as my take on the subject, is riveting for the speaker’s enthusiasm for it.