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Attribute of Success - 4: Continuous Quest for Improvement (चरैवेति चरैवेति)

कलिः शयानो भवति संजिहानस्तु द्वापरः ।
उत्तिष्ठस्त्रेता भवति कृतं संपाद्यते चरंश्चरैवेति ॥

Sleeping is like Kaliyug, waking up and coming to senses is like Dwapar, getting up and standing is like Treta and getting involved in work and being active is like Krityug (Satyug), therefore you must continue moving.

These words of wisdom are from our ancient text Upanishad, advising that movement is the constant endeavor of life. Where moving is not an option it is the only choice. Life is like trying to go up a downward escalator in that if you are not stepping up (putting forth effort), you’re going down. Life is not like a stairway upon which you can reach a certain step and then stop and maintain your position. Just like any animal or plant, it is either growing or decaying, so we are either progressing or regressing in life. You cannot be at a standstill.

Every day at night you should ask yourself, was there anything new which I learnt, created, contributed, improved, made mistake. Have I added something to my experience of life, personally, professionally, emotionally? Every new experience helps you enrich the database library in your brain. The information kept there comes in handy when we face challenges in life, past experience and learning help us handling the present challenges.

It is by pushing ourselves to our current maximum that we open the door of growth to a new maximum. Recently Indian girls made history as India's women's Table Tennis team defeated Singapore to win Gold at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on. In the finals, Manika beat Tianwei Feng 3-2 (11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7) which gave India a 1-0 lead and then she returned in the deciding tie of the game to beat Yihan Zhou 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-7). 

While narrating her strategy and constant analysis of herself and improving and improvising on her technique, she said "I knew that she was having problems with my pimpled rubber and I realize that but I did not use it as my strength all the time. I kept changing my game. I did not want to kept her settle so I changed my rubber after the second game," This was charaiveti charaiveti, she kept moving, studying the weakness of the opponent and modifying her strategy in real time.


“Constantly seek ways to do better whatever needs to be done. If a person with this quality will continue positive application of this negative factor, that person will have a leadership role. The quality: dissatisfaction. To make the unsatisfactory satisfactory or better is the mark of leadership. Never be satisfied with less than top performance, and progress will be the reward” teaches Vince Lombardi, the great football coach. Each time we achieve a goal we should ask, How can it be done better? How can it be improved? “Never be satisfied with the status quo or with past attainments. Reaching a goal is merely a signal to set a higher one; goal-setting is done in small increments so that people never become discouraged: at the same time, they are never permanently satisfied.” (The Essence of Leadership, by Edwin A. Locke)  

Captain James cook, an 18th century English explorer, showed the spirit of excellence by saying of his many voyages of discovery, “I had an ambition, not only to go farther than any man had ever been before, but I wanted to go as far as it was possible for nay man to go.” Life should be a never-ending quest for improvement.

I started with a verse from the great Indian text Upnishad, now I am finishing with another verse from Ishavasyopanishad.

कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छत ँ्समाः ।
एवं त्वयि नान्यथेतोऽस्ति न कर्म लिप्यतेनरे ॥

You should desire to live for 100 years only doing your duty and working constantly, there is no other way to live an unblemished life for a self-respecting man.


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