Day after day, Its drawn to my attention the honest truth behind the quote of a very brilliant scientist decades ago. He said that "to be impactful takes more than just being smart because there are so many unrecognized smart individual in science." That's just my break down of his full paragraph, and sincerely I don't recall his exact words.
This is very true. From experiences, I can certainly attest with ample amount of examples about such instances in which someone who is brilliantly smart, so to say, did not quite make the culmination of his goal. And this is due to numerous reasons, for which I shall only highlight a few.
First, Focus. One might question the order in which I present this points, as there are preferably far more important points to throw out first. However, I do believe that focus is a big key here. Focus literally means "to fix attention" as purported in the modern dictionary. Why fix your attention? What ever happened to "don't put all your eggs in one basket?"
The notion of fixing your attention may differ, but in the context of having a vision, this is crucial. Several times I have been told to fix my attention on what I'm doing. In fact, one of the few words I remember vividly from my previous years working as an undergraduate in the lab is "if you put your mind in what you do, you will do good" from one whom I shall leave unknown. Because I consider myself a thinker and as such love to do it often, I find my self thinking deeply when something inspiring is spoken or seen. So I thought hard about the latter quoted sentences. I review the sentence over and over again, while sitting in front of the computer with my leg wobbling under the desk and causing a cracking noise beneath to disturb other lab mates. After accessing this sentence, I concluded it was absolutely true. When I put my mind in what ever I did, there was a higher success rate.
At times I wonder if I there needs to be another (crucial point). Perhaps I'm supposed to perfect the former in order to move on. Umm...
Second point brings me home -- hardworking. This one I am confused about. Several times I ask myself, how do I know that I am hardworking? Does it really mean when I stay in school all day, or when I am consistently in the lab trying to get an experiment done? Well, maybe this is not for me to ask. However, I do think its as important as my goal to know the rate at which I am progressing. This point reminds me of a quote "Anything that refreshes you without distracting from, diminishing or destroying your ultimate goal is a legitimate pleasure." Thus, does hardworking necessarily mean sitting at the computer/library all day studying? I can't say. Hence, I shall leave your with that point to further elaborate for yourself.
Another rather interesting point is relentlessness. Never giving up, always striving. Someone ones commented on this aspect saying something in the lines of ...the difference between the one who wins and the others is that the former was relentless in his strive to reach the top. I like this word, and this is also my strive --to be and remain relentless until I achieve the goals I have set prior to starting this journey.
A friend of mine, one whom I shall again leave unnamed, usually speaks of how he would not make it because he seems to have failed so many times even after trying so hard. What if he's destined to become the president or a nobel laureate or a world changer? How does this attitude propagate one to attain this goal? Maybe I ask too many question, but questions are just meant to help understand better.
Right attitude and motivation, I believe, should go along with relentless. This is a reason why I very much support Isaac Newton's quote “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” Because the truth is that everyone fails. But you need motivations and to keep the right attitude in order to succeed.
Sometime I fret at this being a crucial aspect to making a big impact in the world because I lose it ones in a while. For example, if I keep the right attitude for a long time and still nothing meaningful or improvement is perceived, I tend to drop out for a while. Sometimes its okay, but sometimes its not. What if you've almost reached the goal before giving up?
This is where the word "God" comes in. Even the bible is enough to convince you of the fact that you are the right person to make the goal you've always wanted. No Ivy league school, no nobel laureate, no president, no father can help as much as being a christian will help. Atheists might question this paragraph, but I am certain that this is very true.
"To succeed in science, you have to avoid dumb people... Even as a child, I never liked to play tag with anyone who was bad as I was. If you win, it gives you no pleasure. And in the game of science-or life-the highest goal isn't simply to win, it's to win at something really difficult. Put another way, it's to go somewhere beyond your ability and come out on top."
James Watson. James Watson, "Succeeding in Science: Some Rules of Thumb", Science, 261, 24 (September 1993): 1812. September 1993.
