Recently, I have been thinking about life and inspirations. If you think about it, God (theist)/Cosmos (atheist) has made life such that no day or second of our life will ever be repeated. We are born once, there was only one day when we were 1 year old. We cross 30 just once and each day is unique in the span of our life. A life, which was by design, never repetitive, how come our lives have become so repetitive?

Is it the social order of the society or is it an individual's mindset to get comfortable? We quickly get settled into our comfort zone and rarely venture out to do something new. We are either restrained by our own understanding of capacity, give too much attention to people around us or are inadvertently short term focused in our daily lives.

While it is not a suggestion to respond to an spur of the moment, or to always be analytical about every move, it is about trying something new with a reasonable risk. It's about taking the risk to drive the future forward. And, part of the ability to take risk comes from self-confidence, passion and hard work.

Best performers in the exam are those, who have practiced it so many times that it's not new any more when they are doing it for real. Sports is played on a field, but a lot of rigorous hours of practice goes into it so that on match day, your play does not have to be extraordinary to your own level. It will just be your play. As a child, I always wondered if something miraculous will happen on the exam day that I will become someone, or I am too young now, but as I will grow up, I will automatically achieve my aspiration. But, as harsh as the truth may sound, it was never the case. I learnt that I would have to form the path a step at a time to reach where I wanted to reach. It's like a tennis match. You would have to win the set to win the game and you would have to win each 40-30 to win a set. Thus, each service and each return counts.

My professor once told me - most people in the world know what they dont want, but few know what they really want. Out of those, few are confident and aspired enough to believe in what they want and pursue it. However, he also said that there is a realistic reach to what you can achieve. He said that a person need to know three things to reach where wants to reach. 1. Where he wants to reach. 2. What path would he take. 3. Where he stands today. He told me that when you figure out 1 and 2, think very critically about 3, always know where you stand today.