There are two categories of people that react differently to other people’s success.
The first start looking for a catch in the story of the winners.
A successful Kazakh businessman? Ah, got it. A son of the prosecutor or a son-in-law of the minister, or even a relative of the president. You prove it isn’t so. The guy was born in a family of simple teachers and he made his way up by himself. They go with the next hypothesis: well, of course, doing well on government contracts. I could do this, too. When you ask them why they did not become millionaires working under government contracts, like that guy, if it’s so easy, they are silent.
You tell them about our countrywoman who opened a Kazakh restaurant in Paris, and they grin in response: of course, she just successfully married a rich Frenchman – that’s all her credit. You tell them: but she had worked as a dishwasher, waitress for a few years, comprehended the basics of business from the bottom? Try the same, and then, well, at least get married and open a restaurant in the capital of the world. They are silent.
You show them an article about a Kazakh woman who, from secretaries of an aluminum magnate, turned into the most influential woman in Russian business, they grumbles again: of course, she slept her way to the top.
And it goes on forever.
They will find or come up with an explanation for anybody else’s success, which brings to nothing the achievements of the other. So it is easier for them to justify their own laziness, inertia, cowardice, weakness. It’s easier to sit on the couch in front of the TV, drink beer and eat smoked fish than to get up and work. It is easier to sleep in the morning till you’re almost late to work, than get up at 06-30, go jogging, take a cold shower, have an English lesson, and start work at 09-00. It is easier to work for someone nine to five and quietly go home to your favorite couch, than to stay late in the office, work perfectly and even more than you have to. But then, sitting in front of the TV and licking his fingers after Beshbarmak with the air of a connoisseur, shaking his head with a significant grin: “Have you heard about that guy? He is on the Forbes list. Surely, someone’s son or nephew. It’s obvious.”
There is a second category of people. These are the people who perceive someone else’s success as a catalyst, as a stimulating and inspiring example. “If he could do this, then I can, too.” They think. “Is he better than me?” And they begin to work even more. If their role model gets up at 06-30 to do everything, they get up at 06-00. If their role model is working overtime, they work even on weekends. And so on.
However, there is also a third category of people. The blessed ones. These people do not look at others at all, they do not compare themselves with them. They just look forward to their goal, and go to it with no distractions. They do not even need inspirational examples. They are higher than that. They just go ahead.
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