Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently.

 congratulate Neeraj Chopra for getting a gold medal for India. I feel humbled that my book ‘Jeet Aapki’ (‘You can Win’) was an inspiration to him but the real hero is Neeraj Chopra because he put in thousands of hours of hard work.  I or my book was only a catalyst.

Whenever we see a success story, invariably people say he must be lucky, not realizing the thousands of hours of hard work put in by the winner. Even though he has mentioned that he received inspiration from the book ‘You Can Win’ (‘Jeet Aapki’), but the real credit goes to Neeraj Chopra who persevered against all odds. In 2019, he suffered a career-threatening elbow injury but he persisted. Neeraj Chopra is a success story. Winners put in extra effort even when it hurts. 

Millions have read my book and got motivated. Some got motivated for an hour, some for a day, some for a month, and then the motivation fades away. But how many got motivated like Neeraj Chopra? I bet the journey to achieving the gold medal was not easy. The success story of Neeraj Chopra was full of obstacles and hardships but he persisted. Many times I am asked if there was only one quality of success what would it be? First of all, there is no one quality. But if at all, there was one, it would be persistence. Persistence is the bounce-back ability. Success is not measured by how high we go up in life, but by how many times we bounce back when we fall down. Success is not measured by how we do as compared to others but how we do as compared to what we are capable of doing. Athletes always compete against themselves. They better their own records. Whenever we see a real-life success story of people like Neeraj Chopra who overcame problems, it forces us to redefine success. Success is not the absence of problems. It is overcoming problems. People who do something in life, do it in spite of problems, not in the absence of problems whereas to the non-achievers, even if you give them everything, they will still not do it. They will always blame something, someone, outside.

People like Neeraj Chopra can be a mentor or a role model to the upcoming generations. People in Bollywood are not heroes, they are entertainers. Our real heroes are those who make our countries proud such as soldiers, doctors, and sportspersons like Neeraj Chopra.