The 3 Pillars

For a very long time I was always wondering and trying to figure out the various options that make a person, successful. Success can be different for different people. For some it could be monetary, for some it could be emotional satisfaction, for some it could be their work. Whatever our parameter of success is, but ultimately we all want to be successful. While searching more about success some questions came to my mind. What are the things which make them do something different than the lot? What makes them stand out? What pushes them to the edge and make them realize their own potential and again pushing it even farther? What makes them achieve so much and still make them stay grounded and deep rooted? How can they stay aloof and keep on giving their best and deliver more than expected? These and more such questions kept me restless and it led me to read about and speak to many successful people, students, teachers, spiritual gurus, leaders (corporate and political). And surprisingly they all had certain things which are very prominent and strikingly similar. Their approach and their attitude helped them grow but all of them had 3 common things which led them to achieve greater heights. Today I am sharing my learning with you all. I hope this will help you too as it helped me.

As mentioned earlier, their approach and attitude helped them grow which ultimately formed the base of their life. But what led them to success were the pillars which were responsible to hold the roof of success for them. And it is still holding it firmly so that people like me can come and learn from them under their precious guidance.

My discussion with these prominent people not only exposed me to various unknown aspects of life, but it also forced me to think and look at daily life with a very new approach. And while doing so I started to look at the usefulness of these aspects in a student life also. They turned out to be extremely viable and doable for all the students and for those who want to be successful in their lives. I found these pillars randomly but after a detailed work on them I could place them one after the other and I can surely say that the sequence that I m sharing them would also make sense to you. In short I call them DDT pillars. So let’s see these aspects or pillars as I call them, one by one.

On the foundation, which we have spoken about, the first pillar that takes its place is DISCIPLINE. Why I found this so important to place it in the first place is, without discipline nothing shall and will work. It is the basic fundamental requirement of any human being to lead a successful life. Our daily routine is based on our discipline. Our habits, interests, goals, even our philosophy of life is displayed through our discipline. It is so very important that it holds the fabric of our society. Social sense and responsibility towards society is the output of discipline. Now a day, we see many things not falling into place just because people are not having basic discipline, no routine of the day, no routine of work, no routine of exercise either makes it even tougher for young generation to cope with social problems like depression, stress, negativity etc. Yes, these are social problems. As they affect the overall health of the society I would surely call them as social problems. A disciplined person would be in a better position to deal with these problems. And for being successful we must be disciplined. Hence the first pillar of success would be discipline.

The second pillar is equally important but holds second place because it can be built with the help of discipline. DEDICATION. This pillar helps a person to be focused on his goals and deliver more than expected. I know, now a day, people are also very sceptical about delivering more than expected. But if you speak to or read about any successful person they’ll share this one thing in common that delivering more than expected has always put them in a fast lane of growth. Efforts required are always higher, expectations are also higher but when you deliver more you explore your own possibilities and potential of growth. The more we work and the more we stretch our limits, the more we can deliver the results. Dedication also makes you more worthy of scaling new heights of responsibilities. People tend to have more faith and trust in you and ultimately you get more responsibilities. Dedication is built on discipline and I m sure you’ll agree that a disciplined and dedicated person always stands out from the crowd.

This brings me to the third pillar of growth and success. And that is TRUST or TEAM WORK. As we have discussed about discipline and dedication, I think we should and must understand that both the pillars won’t be enough to make your success stay for long if you are not trustworthy or a team player. Let’s understand this first that without trust no one can be a team player. Hence the third pillar must be a quality which will give strength to the previous pillars in such a way that all these qualities when work hand in hand they deliver the most precious of results, success. I m sure all these qualities can work separately also but when they work together we can see magic happening around us.

I have experienced this in my life that the more disciplined I was getting the more dedication I was having towards my work, even today if I don’t follow discipline, my dedication gets affected and hence I start doubting myself, resulting into questioning my own trust. And if I can’t trust myself, I can’t be a team player with myself. And if I can’t be a team player with me then how can I expect somebody else to trust me or make me their team member? Logic is very simple; we must be responsible for our acts. Our acts are the result of our discipline, dedication and trust. These 3 pillars, if engraved on the minds of young people we can have more responsible generations. Who could be in a better position to deal with the social problems more effectively. I would urge all of you to kindly add if you think anything is missed. Let’s grow together. Let’s not make a mistake of being alone.

I have done huge mistakes in my life which I regret but more than that they have helped me grow as an individual. Well we’ll discuss about the mistakes and how to deal with them in the next article but till then, share and comment your valuable views so that I can grow and develop.

Keep Learning. Keep Growing.