Learning lessons of life on a Athletic track

My First ever blog which i had written way back in 2005 ... during TAPMI days ...

The topic does sounds a bit awkward right. Actually I am narrating the experince I had yesterday while burning calories on the athletic track. While running and looking at other guys running around the track, I just had a flash which made me realize a fact.




When initially I was running a bit faster which is usual startup, I could see this guy dressed in Black Tshirt n Black Shorts running more or less with the same speed as mine across the ground. I thought I would accelerate a bit so that I could catch with this guy. There weren't any stakes involved but just for my satisfaction, I decide to accelerate my pace. I actually was running faster than what my stamina would permit me to go if I had to complete 4 rounds without stopping.



This is the situation when we face in our real life. The guy dressed in Black shorts was the target or the aim that i had set for myself. It actually takes a lot of time for most of us to identify, What the aim would look like. For me, The guy in the black shorts was this aim. We take conscious effort to meet ( in real sense also) and surpass this aim. We improve our performance by putting extra efforts. Possibly even more than what we could actually put comfortably. This causes tiring since my efforts were more than what I could maintain.




When i was nearing my target, I started feeling the pain in legs while breathing heavily. I was very near this target and would have surpassed him if I could continue the same speed. But there was I, very close to the target but had exhausted myself. I had stop and take some breaths. When i was in a position to chase the target again, My target continuing his pace had gone away. I could see him again across the ground. This was at the end of two and half rounds.


After taking a short break, I decided that I would ignore the target and started my jogging again on a slow but steady pace thinking to myself "The target you chose for urself was probably harder to achieve. U did put a sincere effort but U cannot control the outcome. U did well by closing on the target." (This by the way is called Satisfactory UnderPerformance Syndrome ... HR Jargon)



While joggin, I maintained a steady pace thinking of something in the world when i realised that I was actually surpassing the same guy (My target). It was such a delightful experince that I simply ignored the target and continued to jog when i realised that i had achieved something. No no i m not saying that I am not a great guy following something like "Karmanye Va Dhikaraste Maam Phale Chu Kada Chanah" (Lesson from Mahabharat ... Means do ur job and dont expect something in return)


Probably to this my achieving my target( surpassing the guy in black shorts) there may be different reasons for this success.


1. I did a good job of maintaining a steady pace and achieving the target


2. The guy was also running continously. So obviously he would have gotten tired of running. So it was a bit easy for me to catch up the guy. This also happens in real life. Sometimes your target becomes easier to achieve as time goes by






Probably the reason for this could have been a combination of both the reasons. The final outcome was that i could surpass the guy which was a good experince. I realised while I was crossing that guy, It wasnt a very tough task. I just crossed this guy and continued jogging as if it was just a Cakewalk for me ...


Regards,

Akhil