Fire in the Belly

Many times I meet people who question me, “why should you take so much effort to do your work when after doing all this, still all you eat is normal food. “ Do I actually have a reason for my efforts, and when I introspect and think, I realize it is the fire in my belly, the desire to win which pushes me to put that extra effort into all I do and go the extra mile.

Most people who fail in achieving their goals in life are the people who don’t have the desire to win, which may be because of two reasons –either choosing the wrong goal or lack of the proverbial “fire in the belly”. These are the people who question why do athletes run, jump and push themselves to the limits, why did Sachin Tendulkar play the game for so long, even after records and money stopped mattering.

Reason is in the feeling you get at the moment of glory which the winners get addicted to. It is spurt of adrenaline surge, exhilaration, and moment of thrill which the athlete feels while crossing the line, and formula 1 racer feels when he sees the chequered flag. There is always a risk involved in stretching yourselves beyond your limits but desire to win outweighs all the risk and doubts. It is not true that winners don’t have self doubts, they win despite doubts. Everybody’s life is like a sea-saw where there are phases when we feel low and phases when we want to touch the stars. You have to find something that fires your imagination, and then go all out for your moment of glory. There are always many reasons not to play but there is only reason to play, the desire to win. You can remain static and safe forever theoretically speaking, but as Napoleon said, ‘a moment of glory is worth more than a lifetime of obscurity ‘