My Thoughts on Over Achievers

Farheen Gani has some pretty strong advice for that breed of people who must win at all costs and feel a compulsion to outshine all, even silverware

It is not all about the prize. You feel that whoever said, “Participation is more important than winning,” has never won a competition in his/her life. But it’s not so bad to lose and give others a chance. Trust me; I have tons of experience in that.

They lead the choir, heartlessly win every literary competition, don’t miss a single athletic meet,  become leaders of the school, and at the end of it, no, they don’t fail the exams; they come out on top of the class! Every time! It is a bit like being in a class full of super-hero hybrids, which, by the way, appears cool only on screen.

TV and video games are not for morons. While you may believe that you were born for the greater good and petty human indulgences like these must be left to petty human beings, you are missing out on the exhilaration you feel when winning 4-0 in Fifa ‘14.

Perfection is not your birthright. You are allowed to change an ‘a’ or ‘the’ in a chemistry paper, you know. Stop practising to get that right and ‘raising the bar for the rest of us’, as you fondly call it.

Getting all the degrees in the world is not cool. Okay, hold yourself together. I know it’s difficult to digest this after all the hard work you’ve put in for the dozen or so degrees you have. But do you really believe they’re going to call an engineer to do the accountant’s job? Or your boss might suddenly develop an interest in astrology and ask you to predict the company’s future?

Volume 3 Issue 6