Pre Script: Once again this blogger is living up to the expectation by making mistakes and not reviewing them. Please forgive this lazy bum :)
I hated this word "Rat Race" when I first heard it in my college. I hated it to the core. Ideally speaking, firstly you are comparing hard working human beings fighting for the basic human needs to rats and then you undermine their potential. Moreover, when you reach college you hear a lot of success stories and anecdotes and in almost all the stories, hero was always the one who chose a different path, stood above the rest and achieved success. Such heroes achieved immortality and God like status where as others are just rats who lack innovation, risk taking ability, courage, strength, confidence and lot other traits. Consequently, just like a child, I also wanted to be a hero and hated filthy rats.
But, as the time turned out, I become what I hated and entered the losers arena. Though what I wanted from life and how I faced reality and reached into mortal’s world is an altogether different story. Anyhow, here I am looking in the mirror and watching a filthy rat sitting lousily on a couch. But I don’t lack confidence, innovation, courage, strength etc etc. My self-respect refuses to accept it and retorts loudly that I am not rat. Then I looked towards my grown tummy and understood beyond doubt that atleast I have one common thing with filthy rats. Anyhow, even if I am a rat, is it that bad?
99% of this world belongs to rats and it can’t be that bad thing to be a rat. At least rats have company and have fun on the way. But then a scary thought struck to me that only heroes can be successful. Does this mean that I am not going to be successful in my life? I then looked at my career. It is decent but definitely someone is not going to quote me as a hero or immortal in success stories. It made me think where I lacked and where I go wrong? After a lot of introspections, my mind came up with an answer and understood that even in a rat race there are few ground rules. People who run mindlessly hit a wall in their career and face problems in growth. Then, what are those rules? Well, there are lots of them. I have a favorite and I call it Mota Chooha vs Chota Chooha rule.
Chota Chooha (Small Rat) has a lot of energy and runs freely wherever he wanted to. Even if someone tries to catch him, he doesn’t get caught easily. He can easily hide due to his size and it gives him excellent opportunities to eat and grow. Now, after some years of easy eating opportunities, the same rat grows in size and becomes a Mota Chooha (Fatty Rat). Now due to his bigger tummy, he can’t run fast. If someone tries to catch him, he is easily visible and gets exhausted after a few escapes here and there. So, this Mota Chooha loses hope and accepts the situation the way it is. He doesn’t make much effort to run, even if he gets spotted. And if someone hits him, he takes those blows and lie down on earth as if he is dead. Once people consider him dead, he raises his head slowly and walks to the corner where he hides or lives. Now this strictly limits his eating and growth opportunities. Everything gets dependent on external factors and that’s why rats are unsuccessful.
In a similar fashion, we also join rat race or professional world as Chota Choohas. We get immense opportunities in career initially and thus grow rapidly. But after few years of munching, we become bigger in size and become Mota Chooha. And, as expected, we also start getting blows from the world and try to adapt to the situation. It strictly limits our growth opportunities and we rely a lot on the external factors for growth. That’s why we don’t feature as hero in success stories.
So, the Mota Chooha vs Chota Chooha rule says that in order to grow you have to be chota chooha in your career. It definitely doesn’t say that you don’t grow bigger in career. It only says that you have to do continuous efforts to go in a bigger environment in career to be a relatively chota chooha. The moment you start taking blows from world and your size becomes misfit in the environment, you are bound to slow down in career.
Thus, even rats can stand out from the crowd and be immortal Gods in success stories. So, being a rat and running in a race is not such a bad idea provided you run with right mind set and attitude. People may call you a rat but you can be successful and have fun at the same time :)
