An Article By Vijay Batra
An interesting finding about many Olympic athletes, an athlete winning a silver in many cases is less happy than an athlete who has won a bronze. Why` because an athlete who won the silver, often feels that he or she lost the gold. On the other hand, an athlete who won a bronze, feels good, for at-least he or she has won a medal. I often heard my father, Late Dr. Promod K. Batra say " Don't make best, the enemy of the better." Let us appreciate all the silvers we have in life, and make the most of it.
Often when I ask in my seminars a question, Practice makes you___________` Most of the participants answer in unison, `Perfect` to which I respond, Practice makes you better, not perfect.
Perfection is a syndrome. One cannot have a perfect day, or a perfect holiday. One cannot have a perfect relationship, be it at work or at home.
You and I can endeavor to do better with what we have.
My father often said `Sab ko muqamal jahan nahi milta, par jo milta hai wo kum nahi.` Translation `all don`t get a perfect life, but whatever we get, is not less.
The whole concept of Kaizen, is continuous improvement, that is start with what you have and make it better.
In many cases I have observed that people in a relationship feel, that if they must try in building and maintaining a relationship, something is fundamentally wrong in the other person, and in some cases in one-self. The right thought is that we all need to make consistent efforts in building and maintaining a relationship. In many cases our relationships are closer to silver, than gold, and it is important for us to relish them.
I have experienced, because of our faulty expectations of things and people being perfect or `gold` we get upset, and make no effort to experience the goodness, and in many cases by being cynical, we end up damaging the situation or the relationship even further.
Be it the work you have chosen, the decisions you have made, the person you have married, or the friends that you have, make the most of it.
If being born with a silver spoon is thought to be a privilege, let us value all the things and relationships we have even if they are silver and not gold.
Sometimes setbacks in life make us feel that before the setback we were in a golden era, and now we are in trouble, but in many cases, setbacks come with silver linings.
We need to identify the silver lining and make an effort to overcome the setback and leverage ourselves.