Dearest little girl of mine,
As a smart young girl who has been blessed with immense intellect and dollops of common sense, you already know that the ones who have reached the heights of their profession have done so by envisioning a goal – no matter how large it is and working hard to achieve the vision.
Let's work backward from the goal. Let it be anything – topper in class ranking this year, to create a master dish by the end of the month, or what you told me the other day, like baking something nice for your brother’s birthday.. Set your lovely eyes on any task – simple or complicated but do set a date, write it down in your calendar and write down the steps which you will need to take to make the goal come alive. Follow the process for anything you need to achieve and the effort itself will carry you to the result.
A lack of planning can make even the most ambitious project go astray. A bridge for lack of a better example, cannot be built by sitting down and thinking about it for a few minutes. It needs proper planning of workforce, work flow and materials. To finish it, one needs to know how to bring it all together in a timely manner and build it from the ground up. For this, the planner will first draw a bridge, calculate the amount of material required, he/she will work backward to decide how many people should be employed at each stage of construction and how much time it should take each step of the project to for completion. It requires attention to detail and hard work. But a completed bridge builds an easy passage for people to reach the other side of a previously difficult crossing.
In the same manner, life too should have a proper plan; because to each one, his/her life is the bridge one builds to connect the past with future. The efforts you pour in now – will pave way to the gains the other shores has to offer in future. You choose whether to build a single rope bridge to reach your goals or whether you want a six lane strong bridge which will help you reach the other side faster and with minimal effort.
We human beings are wonderful creatures. We have shown our ancestors that whatever was earlier thought of as not achievable can be done, done with ease and pride. Talk of reaching the moon, then Mars, the continuous fight against diseases which were deadly years back but now wiped out from the face of our lovely blue green globe… these achievements were considered sorcery by generations not very many years ago.
It was people like you who made all that possible. People who were blessed with innate intelligence and the will to excel. People who wanted to make a difference and found out a way to do it. They made it happen with hard work and dedication.
So, what I have to tell you, my little girl whose smile melts my heart is that you are no different from any other achiever; immerse yourself in your dreams, build your bridge and go on to dream up something that will make you work harder. Never give up, never give it a rest, because along with me, the entire world is waiting with bated breath to see what unravels from that unrivalled mind of yours.
Love,
Appa
