A Great Story on Will Strength and Rigour

All of you have probably heard the story of The Hare and the Tortoise in your childhood. Though the tortoise won, our general tendency is to deny this outcome, unwilling to accept it, as it clashes with our logic, reasoning and programming.

Wisdom is always hidden is plain sight. Both the keys of ‘slow and steady’ must be turned together to unlock Rigour – a form of inner-will – one step in front of the other and one step at a time will take you to your goal.

In any case, just for fun, do read the original story again – but this time from the perspective of will. Like we say, wear your “Will-Goggles.” 🙂

The Hare and the Tortoise

A Hare was making fun of a Tortoise one day for being so slow.

“Do you ever get anywhere?” he asked with a mocking laugh.

“Yes,” replied the Tortoise, “and I get there sooner than you think. I’ll run you a race and prove it.”

The Hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the Tortoise, but for the fun of it he agreed. So the Fox, who had consented to act as judge, marked the distance and started the runners off.

The Hare was soon far out of sight, and to make the Tortoise feel very deeply how ridiculous it was for him to try a race with the Hare, he lay down beside the race course to take a nap until the Tortoise catches up.

Meanwhile the Tortoise kept going slowly but steadily, and, after a time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping. But the Hare slept on very peacefully. When at last he did wake up, the Tortoise was near the goal. The Hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the Tortoise in time.

The race is always been won by the slow and steady.

There are two operative words here – slow and steady – both must work together for success. Usually our thoughts get locked to the first word and end up ignoring the second word. Together, they become a deadly combination for your success.

*The original story would be even laughable by our modern definitions and approach to success. Point to note: This wisdom has stood the test of time for many centuries and we must not be in a hurry to brush it aside.

*Do reflect on the role of Will and how slow (not burning up too soon) and steady (regular and consistent) effort is needed in your work.

• Look around at people who have achieved something you admire, and then reflect on how they did it. Many other factors will also be there, but the primary one would be Rigour.

*Modern re-telling: Keep doing 5 to 10 minutes improvement on yourself or on your work everyday, then the sky is the limit.

Bottom line: If you need to complete this boot camp challenge, use both the keys together – slow and steady – this will unlock success over your procrastination challenges.

Capt. Preetham Madhukar