Incompetence v/s Hard-Luck

"Its a well known fact that over 85% of the people between the age of 17-28 become philosophical after 11 PM."

Well, its not really a fact, I just tried a Barney Stinson there! But its true though. How many times has it happened? You're awake late, and you start thinking. One thought leads to another and by the time you actually feel sleepy you either have a killer Facebook/Whatsapp status for the next day or you have an idea for a flop novel or you may end up convincing yourself of some bad happening you might have had to go through. After all, it sure is the THOUGHT that counts. You sure can't COUNT those thoughts.

This blog, like many others (I'm sure) is a result of the 11PM+ thoughts and my perceptions of things. I'll start by confessing that I don't exactly have a dream job which is what my debut blog is inspired from. I believe there is a very thin line between acknowledging yourself as incompetent and believing it's just hard-luck that's keeping you from what you've been chasing.

We all work hard, don't we? To our own relative capacity and to our relative knowledge, yes, we do. But do we? I've heard people crib about their hard-luck endlessly and make no mistake I'm one of them (Yeah, I hear myself!!). Is it always hard-luck that made you lose out on a job or an exam or a deal or anything important for that matter? Can it be minutely possible that we're not competent enough? Well, maybe yes or maybe no. Then who draws the line? Simple! It's YOU. Not just because you know how to use a ruler and a pencil but one particularly essential thing to explore yourself is to not lie to yourself and exploring yourself will tell you whether it really was hard-luck or maybe you didn't deserve it after all.

There are certain personalities of people that are coming to mind in the context of this writing. The highly competitive set are usually too hard on themselves. When they don't reach the bar that they set for themselves, they think they didn't try hard enough instead of acknowledging that "it just wasn't their day". They don't pity themselves for their hard-luck (when is actually could've been just hard-luck!!) and find themselves with just two options, either work harder next time or be so upset with yourselves that you never set foot again, thinking that they're just incompetent for this genre . Extremists! The "have it or break it" kinds. They either keep their hopes really high which allows them to go for the kill or too low so as to keep them in the shell for an indefinite time.

On the other hand, there is another set that relies on "it just wasn't their day" too often. These people can blame just about anything on their "so-called" hard-luck, even improper bowel movements (Yes! Its gross). Really sensitive about their actions and with a high sense of insecurity about their moves, they tend to get disheartened very quickly. The attitude becomes negative and while they convince their minds that they're going to kill it, in their heart, they always doubt themselves and end up cursing their "so-called" hard-luck for not crossing the line when the fact is that probably it was their DOUBT on themselves that didn't convince them that they were good enough in the first place.

Do you really think people exist in those sets? Agree to that or not, you might agree to what I say now. The two sets that I talked about above, are just two sides of a single person. Two faces of a single coin. Think about it! there are days when we wake up with such positive energy that we feel nothing's gonna go wrong. Even if something does, we go ahead and rectify it. No Big Deal! Small pebbles don't change your path, do they? Well that sort of mind set is not a problem, its a blessing. The problem is when you're not in that positive frame. That's when the small pebbles start looking like huge chunks of rocks that never seem to get off your path. That is when you start (or at least I started) questioning yourself, whether its just hard-luck, just not your day or you feel if you're incompetent for the job or you might recall the sounds in your head, "not meant for it".

You know what the best thing about questioning yourself is? Nobody knows you better than you know yourself. Lying to the world is not the worst part of the art of lying, lying to YOURSELF is. Your conscience will always tell you what's right for you. Its your take to respect it or shun it, obviously taking into consideration the relative personality of different people - not all people make similar choices. Similarly, your conscience will always answer you when you question yourself if it was your incompetence or your hard-luck. Its OK to blame it on your luck and its also OK to feel incompetent, but, the more important thing is what comes after that dismal feeling. The decision that you take to counter/confer that feeling - the rebound. While a person who's in a relative stronger frame of mind will choose to take it in its stride and work harder next time, a person in a fragile state might succumb to the pressure. The trick, I've come to figure out, is to not get carried away with your initial reaction in a crisis. Initially, you might feel that you're incompetent or out of luck but you have to understand that that reaction was an outburst of spontaneous emotions. If it was something small that you couldn't have/complete, dude, stop cribbing and blaming your ability or cursing your luck before you come to a conclusion. Hell! get off your ass and try again! Keep trying till you feel you won't question yourself in future saying "did I give it a fair shot?" If you get there, bless me! if you don't, well you won't say you didn't try hard enough. If it was something big, take a break before pestering yourself because if it was really that big you would've put yourself under the hammer and your brain and body deserve a rest before the soul-search (for the Incompetent v/s Hard-luck) begins. If you didn't work hard enough, you have no reason to take a break and you need to get off your ass again and start over.

Maintain a balance is all that I mean to say. Maybe its just hard-luck that prevented it from happening or maybe its just not your cup of tea. Whatever it may be, don't decide too early! Give it a thought, because its the THOUGHT that counts ;)

Whatever the outcome may be, its not the end of the world. Its NEVER the end of the world!

Quite a moral science lecture. One last thing, before you start the self-introspection session, watch "SUITS" if you still haven't! Hell of a series!

Ciao till next time!