Understanding Success 101: Everything You Wanted To Know
What is understanding
The word understanding has two definitions ‘the ability to understand something’ and ‘sympathetic awareness or tolerance’. Both these definitions are equally important if we want to succeed in life. Doing some work without fully understanding it is meaningless. This is illustrated very evidently in Saint Augustine’s experience.
As Saint Augustine, the great theologian, walked by the seashore one day thinking about how God could be three persons at once, he came across a child engaged in an unusual task. The child had dug a hole in the sand and was filling it with water from the ocean.
He would go to the ocean fill his seashell with water and then come and empty the water in his hole. After watching the child for some time, Saint Augustine asked him, ‘What are you trying to achieve?’
Sweating and panting, the child replied, ‘I am trying to put the ocean in my hole.’ ‘What?’ Augustine said, ‘That is impossible. The sea is too large to fit in your small hole.’
‘That's true’ said the child, ‘but I will sooner drain this hole of all water than you will penetrate the mysteries of the Holy Trinity with your limited understanding.’ Augustine turned away in amazement and when he looked back the child had disappeared.
The young man’s and Saint Augustine’s problem were neither lack of knowledge nor lack in effort. They both had limited understanding. Neither of them had analyzed their goal or understood the problem. That’s why they could not succeed in their goal.
Why do we need understanding
In our life we all are working very hard. Some of us might be studying day and night while some are sweating blood for some competition but at the end of the day if we don’t understand our goal, our motivation and our barriers we won’t achieve our full potential.
We can't find the answer to a question without first understanding the question. Understanding helps you see things which others haven't yet see and find solutions no one has found yet. Therefore, to succeed in life we need to understand two things.
Understanding the problem
If someone has a better understanding than you, they will definitely find the solution first. The first step for finding any solution is to understand the problem. When we understand the problem completely only then can we look for a solution.
For example, suppose you missed yesterday's math lecture, and your teacher taught a completely new topic and took a test the next day. He gives you a question and tells you to find the solution.
While you don't understand what the question means, you begin scribbling numbers and letters in an attempt to come up with a solution. In spite of all your efforts, you won't be able to find the solution to the problem.
To find the solution to a problem or to succeed in a task you first have to understand what you have been asked to find. You'll have to understand the topic then the question and only then will you be able to find the solution.
Understanding your potential
Let's imagine that you understand the problem and know the answer, but you don't have that enthusiasm or desire to find the solution, so you might find the answer, but you would be doing it half-heartedly. You will start procrastinating and eventually you will lag behind and fail.
While understanding the problem is very important so is having the determination to solve the problem. Therefore, along with understanding the problem we also have to understand our potential. How much we are willing to work to achieve our goal. If we really want to find the solution. When we understand our potential, we develop a better understanding of ourselves.
We realize what we want and take steps according to that, we start working towards our goal with full motivation and we finally do achieve success.
A successful life starts with having a plan
Achieving success isn't going to happen overnight. Similarly understanding is not a onetime thing it must become a habit. Changing your habit is like changing your life. When we incorporate understanding of things around us, we become more curious, more aware. We develop new perspective of the things and find better solutions.
When we understand ourselves, we realize what makes up our drive in life. We are able to identify our mission in life and what we are supposed to do to achieve our goal. Understanding yourself and your surrounding will lead to higher level of success in all areas of your life. Similarly understanding your problem will help you find better solutions and success in that field.
In conclusion, there are a number of dimensions of understanding that are critical for winning. First, understand yourself. Second, understand the nature of the thing you are pursuing. Lastly, you need to seek to understand the people around you.
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