The Thirukkural Effect: How You Can Learn From Your Roots
Below is a passage from the Thirukkural, a classic Tamil text.
Translated into well over 40 languages, the Thirukkural consists of 1,330 couplets or kural (குறள்), each being seven words long.
Divided into three books; Virtue (அறம்), Wealth (பொருள்) and Love (இன்பம்), it is considered one of the world’s foremost works on ethics and morality.
குறள் 𝟑𝟗𝟔:
தொட்டனைத் தூறும் மணற்கேணி மாந்தர்க்குக்
கற்றனைத் தூறும் அறிவு.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐠 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭.
𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭.
Oftentimes, people are guilty of looking for shortcuts on their road to their best selves.
We want to see results NOW and get discouraged when they don’t see them.
We compare our behind the scenes to others’ highlights reels and get disappointed when we don’t match up.
We look at successful people and try to mimic their daily routine for a couple days, then get turned off when we don’t see the same results.
An aspiring hooper might watch countless hours of Kobe highlights trying to pick his moves up, neglecting to take into account the untold time Kobe spent in the gym honing his craft.
An aspiring digital marketer (definitely not me) might ask his mentor about the systems they used to learn SEO, conveniently forgetting about all the mistakes and experiences that molded his mentor’s current level of expertise.
Although it’s nice to learn about people’s experiences under the spotlight, it’s what they do when no one’s watching that matters the most.
What kept them going when they didn’t see a way forward? What did they practice day in and day out?
By learning about the struggles others faced on their road to greatness, we prepare ourselves for the inevitable bumps that we’ll eventually face.
It’s important we learn about all of a person’s journey, the highs and the lows, cause they’ll both be constants in our own lives.
It’s time for us to not only expect obstacles to come our way — but be grateful for them.
Obstacles allow us to persevere and learn things about ourselves success just can’t teach.
And it’s time for us to put in the reps.
To stop playing small and make the decision to become great.
To immerse ourselves in our crafts and become the best at it — whatever that means to you.
குறள் 𝟰𝟮𝟭:
அறிவற்றங் காக்குங் கருவி செறுவார்க்கும்
உள்ளழிக்க லாகா அரண்.
𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻; 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆.