Blaze trails for high performance

The attainment of success is rooted not so much in ability but in positive mental attitudes, and planned and disciplined hard work.

ANOTHER semester has come to a close at the Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya. At my lecture to the Constitutional Law batch last Thursday, I took the liberty to go beyond the law to some broader issues in life, and add a few words of farewell and thanks to the students.

This is what I conveyed:

“I wish to let you all know that it was my privilege to be associated with you. You touched my life in a nice way, and I learnt many things from our interaction. Your questions and queries, your doubts and disputes, helped me to refine my own understanding of the law. Because of your interventions, my meagre collection of sea shells from the shores of knowledge got enriched. In some respects, you were my students as well as my teachers. For that, I wish to thank you.

I wish you success in your examination and in the many challenges that await you in your profession. However, I wish to add a word of caution: there is no magic wand, ‘no high-speed elevator to success’ (Zig Ziglar, American motivational speaker). You have to walk up the ladder one step at a time. For high performance in life and in the profession, some prerequisites have to be fulfilled; some pathways have to be blazed.

> Dream dreams. Visualise, constructively imagine and role-play whatever you wish to become. Dreams are the foundation of reality. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. However, do not be a daydreamer. Pay heed to Rudyard Kipling who cautioned: ‘If you can dream – and not make dreams your master. If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim.’

> Draw up a realistic, attainable plan. If your dreams are backed by plans, plans are accompanied by dates and dates are supported by determination, all your dreams are a few heartbeats away. Set up time frames. Sail a charted course. Do not drift in the wind and the waves. Act, not just react to things as they come.

> Begin executing your plan today. Do not wait for ideal conditions. Conditions are never ideal. Anything commenced picks up its own steam and grows like a snowball rolling down the hill. The wind often changes for the better once we set sail. Many times, the impossible is simply what is untried.

> Discipline yourself to execute your carefully crafted plan. Discipline is the key to success.

> Whatever you do, do it well. There are no small jobs, only small people. There is honour in every profession, provided you put your heart and soul into it, and do ordinary things extraordinarily well. It is often the case that those who do small jobs meticulously are eventually trusted with bigger challenges. Genius is one percent inspiration, 99% perspiration.

> Develop positive attitudes. The attainment of success is rooted not so much in ability but in positive mental attitudes, and planned and disciplined hard work. ‘It is your attitude, not your aptitude, that will determine your altitude’ (Ziglar). If you think you can, you indeed can. Doubt your doubts but not your beliefs. Do not let your limitations limit you. You all have more abilities than you realise. There are, within the recesses of your soul, reservoirs of inner strength that await to be tapped.

Karen Ravn put it beautifully: ‘Only as high as I reach can I grow. Only as far as I seek can I go. Only as deep as I look can I see. Only as much as I dream can I be.’ Leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. Make plans to reach the sky. If you land on the clouds, that’s all right. Try again.

> Do not give up. In any endeavour, if you do not succeed at first, try again. Falling down is not the same as failing. We all fall down now and then. The important thing is to get up and get going. Rumi (13th century Persian poet), said: ‘What you seek is seeking you.’

Vince Lombardi (American football coach) said this about persistence: ‘Life’s battles do not always go to the stronger and faster man. But sooner or later, the man who wins is the one who thinks he can.’

In most challenges in life, natural talents do not take us very far. Discipline and perseverance do. Buddha is reputed to have said that ‘in the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins – not through strength, but through persistence.’

> In those moments when you feel fear and doubt, remember that every human being suffers from these afflictions. We are all specks of dust in the universe. Yet we are strong enough to overcome any challenge. Life is tough, but we are tougher. With a positive attitude, we can convert dares into doors and adversities into opportunities.

> Lay your trust in God. Beseech Him to give you strength. For me, the Holy Quran states in Surah Al-Baqarah (2:286): ‘God does not impose upon a soul a burden it cannot bear.’ I am comforted by the words in Surah Ghafir Mumin (40:60): ‘Call on Me; I will answer your prayer.’

Likewise, the Holy Bible in Psalm 23:4 says: ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.’

> Success is a journey, not a destination. Success is a continuing process of repeating and reinforcing past accomplishments and conquering new challenges by adapting to a changing world.

> To be happy, live for others. Dedicate your life to something bigger than yourself. It is not what we gather, it is what we scatter, that matters. Leave the world better than you found it.

> Think deeply. Act nobly. Do unto others what you wish to be done unto you (Matthew; 7:12).

To conclude, let me say that the attainment of success is rooted not so much in ability but in positive mental attitudes, and planned and disciplined hard work. I believe that even ordinary people can achieve the most extraordinary things.

I wish you all the best in your endeavours. Let me close with a ‘farewell’, not ‘goodbye’, because I hope our paths will cross again. May God be with you.”

Emeritus Professor Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi is Holder of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Chair at Universiti Malaya. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.