“Don’t complain, just work harder”

I'm not into tennis except for their girls. Hahaha. I was touched when Azarenka mentioned in her victory speech about the fact that her grandmother was the person who inspired her most.

A year ago, Azarenka, who hails from Belaruas, contemplated taking a break from tennis after losing to Li Na in the 2011 Australian Open. She discussed it with her family and had a heart to heart talk with her grandmother. She told her grandmother that she was not ‘happy’ playing tennis anymore. Her grandmother replied, “Don’t complain, just work harder”.

It was a short reply, but it had a profound effect and made her reflect on her life, career and yes, tennis. It was then that she realized that she had a job many people would give an arm and a leg for. She compared her own situation to that of her grandmother, who was working three jobs at once at 71 years old and then realized how fortunate she was. She had just lost a tennis match and yet was complaining like it was the end of the world.

In a sense, what her grandmother was telling her was to ‘shut up and stop complaining because she had a very good life’. This simple advice gave her renewed vigour and enthusiasm for tennis and Azarenka says “"Now I'm always happy on the court and I look forward to every challenge and try to be disciplined in what I'm working hard for." And with that attitude, she has been amply rewarded by winning the Australian Open and is currently the world number one ranked player.

There are a few things we can all learn from Azarenka’s situation.

• As much as we think our lives and careers are ‘bad’, there will always be many other people who are very much worst off. It’s all relative. Hence be optimistic and look at all the positive things about your life right now.

• We usually like to compare ourselves to people who are better off than us. This is okay but please remember that there are many people who would give anything to have the careers you are currently having too. Learn to have an attitude of gratitude and realize how blessed you are.

• We all want more and more money and think that this is the ultimate solution to all our problems. This, probably, is one of the main reasons why a lot of people are unhappy. However just go to Global Rich List (www. globalrichlist.com), enter your annual income, and see the result. Chances are you are much richer than billions of other people in the world. This will give you a better perspective of your life.

• If you are really unhappy with your situation, then do take decisive action to change it. The worst thing to do is to moan and groan and continue to do things that you are unhappy doing. Have a set of goals and then work hard towards achieving it. In the process please remember that no matter how far you go, there will always be someone doing a bit better than you!


Source - Heera Singh February Newsletter.



p/s: Be grateful for what we have. There's someone somewhere might be less fortunate than us.