Enter to excel?

You know, there are these times when these great philosophers speak words that actually resonate with me. It happens rarely but it does happen. And, no, I am not lying. And THIS is the proof I am not for this post is all about advice that I live by.

Tiru has this to say about how to choose your profession:

Thondrin pugazhodu thondruga aqdilaar thondralin thondraamai nandru - Tirukkural

Enter a profession where you can excel; if not, it's better not to have entered - Loose Translation

Though, yes, Tiru talks of it as 'Appear on a stage only if you can excel...' but I'm sure that this advice is not meant only for actors. So, that 'stage' is probably metaphorical and is meant like Billy's 'All the world is a stage'. (Billy? William Shakespeare. I thought, by now, you'd be accustomed to me. I am, you know, like your next-door uncle who says, "When I last met Rahul...Rahul? You know, Rajiv ka ladka...Rahul Gandhi'. Only I play it safe and use it with people long dead!)

So, Tiru says that you should enter a profession/company/whatever when you have the confidence that you can excel at what you have to do. It is not enough for you to sort of while your days away making a 'decent living'. You need to thirst to be the best at what you have taken up. If you feel that you cannot do so, either because of lack of talent or lack of interest, then it's best that you do not enter that field at all.

It's all well for Tiru to say so...I mean, if what I am best at will yield a tenth of what I can get in that other area where I'm probably at the bottom of the ladder...what then? Like I'm sort of average as a programmer, say, but the best at proof-reading, do you really expect me to hop over to work in a newspaper rather than Microsoft? Really? Yes, quite possibly, professional life would suck in an area where I'm not too good but...

I suppose Tiru would say that I should THEN put in the efforts to excel at what I DO choose to do cos the other way would be meaningless existence. THAT would be his idea.

Me, I also think that it's best to leave rather than stick on when I cannot excel.

So...I left! RETIRED! I really excel at idling, don't you know?