What Is Your Excuse Today??

Yesterday I got an opportunity to attend an event hosted by ICICI Prudential for its employees. The special guest for the session was Dr. Arunima Sinha, a former Indian national volleyball player & the world’s first woman amputee to climb the world’s highest peak – Mount Everest. She was pushed from a running train while traveling from Lucknow to Delhi by some robbers in 2011 while she was resisting them. As a result, her left leg had to be amputated below the knee, she got rods in the right leg and multiple fractures in the spinal cord.

During the session, while she was sharing her story, every instance shared by her, whether it was spending the whole night near the tracks when the trains were passing by with broken legs or the rats on the railway track biting skin from her body gave me goosebumps. Even while writing this blog I can visualize & feel each word shared by her & the pain that she would have undergone that night. The next morning when she was spotted by the villagers, she was rushed to the hospital with serious leg and pelvic injuries and lost her leg after doctors amputated it to save her life.

After being treated at AIIMS she resolved to climb Mount Everest & on 21 May 2013 she reached the Summit of Mount Everest. Her life is an inspiration to all such people who often keep making excuses as to why success is not coming their way. Often people relate success or achieving targets or goals in life with the resources they have. Her life & achievements are a living example that resources, capabilities, circumstances are all just excuses which you are making to convenience yourself for not achieving your goals or dreams in life.

A burning desire/determination/fire within or whatever you may call it, is the one & only things you require to achieve the life that you want for yourself. Everything else shall fall in place. I often encounter women & Millennials trying to justify why it is not practically possible for them to achieve their goals and fulfill their targets. You have a life, what else do you need.

My 3 learnings from Dr. Arunima’s life are –

• Every obstacle is an opportunity – We often look at the obstacles life brings upon, but there is surely an opportunity that comes with it, only if we can find this hidden opportunity. Dr. Arunima was an athlete but this incident though turned her life upside down, also brought this opportunity in her life where she had a chance to rise much above than being just an athlete. Today she is an inspiration to many people, the pride of our country & is one of the most renowned mountaineers of the world. Is life throwing a challenge at you?? Explore the opportunity it is bringing for you. Something great is in store for sure. Don’t let it go.

• Life is to do something big – I remember Dr. Arunima saying, If God has saved me, it must be for something big. If you have got a life, I am sure it is for a bigger purpose. It is just that you are not able to identify the purpose of your life. The day you will, you will do something big. Life is about doing EXTRA & living that EXTRAordinary life. 
• Focus Centered goal & determination is a self-sufficient resource – All you need is being focused on your goal & having the determination to achieve it. These 2 resources are the prerequisites & bring along everything else with it. Be it money, capabilities, skill, or any resources or qualities which you feel are important. 

As rightly said by Tony Robbins, “If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results that you want for yourself, copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.” 

Start with the little things today & big things will come your way. STOP giving excuses & go for it!!!

Love

RK