Believe in Yourself

Commander VK Jaitly

Don’t be pushed by your problems, be led by your dreams…

Believe in yourself and you will be unstoppable… There is nobody in the world history who can claim that he/she got success in each and everything that he/she attempted. There are always stumbling blocks on the way to great heights. The difference between a winner and a loser is that a winner never loses faith in his/her capability and continues to try again and again. And a loser starts doubting his/her own capability when faced with the slightest failure.

So if you want to be a winner; Believe in Yourself, Believe in Your Capabilities and also believe in the capabilities of the people you command. Believe in the ups and downs of life. Believe that even the darkest cloud has a silver lining. If it is pitch dark at some time in your life, believe that very soon the rays of the rising sun will dispel all the darkness.

Have you ever realized that small kids become timid and lose faith in themselves if their parents are over protective? On the other hand, street children or the children raised in villages are bolder and tougher. They don’t have the luxury of a cozy and comfortable life. The vagaries of nature make them tougher as they are left to fend for themselves most of the time. Their parents are not that protective.

I firmly believe that uninitiated children have more faith in themselves than the children who are brought up with a silver spoon in their mouth. It is the society around us that puts limitations on what we can imagine and what we can do.

You may have heard the story of the jungle frogs. All the animals of the jungle used to make fun of them. They were tiny and made just too much sound. ‘Turrrr.. Turrrr.. Turrrr..’ they did all day and this became shriller during rainy seasons. They were subjected to scorn and ridicule by most of the animals and particularly by monkeys. Once the argument became a bit heated. The monkeys accused them of making so much noise and not letting them sleep during the night. Monkeys called the frogs as useless creatures and good for nothing who can’t do anything.

The frogs too got agitated and said, ‘Don’t say that. We can do anything.’
The monkeys laughed scornfully and enquired, ‘Hey! You can do anything?’
‘Yes, we can do anything,’ replied the little frogs in unison.
‘Can you climb that tower?’ asked the monkeys.
‘Yes, We Can!’ replied the little frogs out of sheer josh (enthusiasm).

Monkeys had thrown the challenge and frogs accepted it.

On the coming Sunday, the frogs were all set to prove their worth. All the animals gathered near the tower at the scheduled time. Mr Bear was the referee and he announced that even if one frog climbs to the top nobody in the jungle shall make fun of these little creatures ever again. All the animals looked at each other in disbelief. The lion king just nodded in agreement. “How will they climb such a tall tower?” This question was in the minds of everyone. They have gone mad, the animals commented. Some even said that it was impossible for them to go to the top.

Once the frogs were ready, Mr Bear blew the whistle and the frogs started climbing the tower. There was no one to cheer these small creatures. On the other hand, all the animals were shouting:
‘They can’t do it’.
‘They can’t do it’.

And it actually happened, that some of the frogs started falling even before they had reached hardly 25% of the height. Still a large number of frogs were determined. But the shouts continued:
‘They can’t do it’.
‘They can’t do it’.

And then more and more frogs started falling. Soon they realized that it was not their cup of tea as they had all fallen down. They were dejected, sad and their morale was down. Suddenly, some of them looked up the tower and found that one little frog was still climbing. And other animals were still shouting:
‘Even he can’t do it’.
‘He will fall down’.
‘He can’t do it’.

But this little frog kept climbing up and up and up. The dejected frogs down below started dancing with joy. And they started cheering up the lone frog. And then the bear blew a long whistle when this little frog reached the top, waved hands and started coming down the tower. The joy of the frogs knew no bounds. There were tears of joy in their eyes. They were embracing each other. One among them had done a feat that everyone felt was impossible.

The moment this little frog came down, the press reporters were ready for the interview:
‘How did you do it?’
‘How did you do it?’

Everyone wanted to know the secret of his stamina and strength. And that’s when they realized that this little frog was deaf.

He was not able to hear the negative suggestions of the animals. He was not able to hear the cries of ‘They can’t do it’. ‘They can’t do it’.

So, the moral of the story is if you want to do something big, just go ahead. Don’t listen to those who discourage you. Believe in yourself and believe in your capability and move on with full commitment. Become deaf for those who demotivate you.

Let us believe in ourselves, believe in our dreams and believe in our goals and believe that we can achieve them. With a strong belief in ourselves, we can reach great heights. And even if we do falter at times and face the failure, this self-confidence will give us immense power to face any challenges and overcome the stumbling blocks on our way.

If we believe in ourselves, only then we can believe in our team mates. And that is one of the most important trait of a great leader.

So Always Believe in Yourself.