This document discusses the importance of dedication and focus. It argues that people who try to do too many things at once without dedicating proper focus to any single task will likely fail at all of them. Some multi-task to seek attention, but true dedication requires focusing on a few tasks and doing them well. The document advises the reader to find their passion and not just follow the herd, but to make independent career choices based on their own interests and strengths.

1. PURPOSE
“You are only as good as what you do. There is no point in dipping your fingers in ten different bowls.
Pick up a few tasks and do them well.”
This is an excerpt from a sermon delivered by my teacher from FIITJEE. Then again, he gave many
sermons in class, most of which targeted disinterested students like me, but this one really caught my
attention. Sadly, even this one was duly ignored and ridiculed. The end result – an average student, an
average gamer, an average brother and most of all, an average son.
Apologies for starting this article on such a depressing note, but years of mediocrity have made me
realise the value of dedication which is why I put forth my interpretation of my teacher’s views.
The dictionary meaning of the word dedication is “Complete and wholehearted fidelity”. One shouldn’t
waver from his goals no matter what the circumstances are. In the event, if he is pitted against any
obstacles, he should troubleshoot his way out of the predicament. This is the junction where a man’s
dedication comes to light. It is at this point where two kinds of people can be found and segregated with
ease – ones who don’t possess the drive to succeed and the ones who do.
For the moment, let’s focus on the people who don’t possess the above mentioned drive. Why do they
multi-task if they aren’t able to handle the pressures involved? It is because they crave attention (read
publicity mongers) and are after the public limelight. It doesn’t make a difference to them whether or not
the endeavours they are involved in succeed or fail. Their main motives involve flashing their authority in
a close cut community. These people mostly learn through experience. This is because lip-service rarely
works with them due to their inability to absorb any advice that is critical in nature.
The other kind of people who display low level of dedication are the less informed ones who frankly
speaking haven’t seen the world enough to make a well informed decision. Their mind wavers. Their
resolve is as fragile as a house of cards. Many of us are like that, shepherd-less lambs, aimless arrows,
nomads. It is at times like this when you need to figure out what your calling is and what tasks and
activities bring out your tenacious side.
One of my friends, (read S.Piyush) once rightly said “Jobs are over-rated”. Few weeks later he did get
placed but his statement beckons the question - Why should you be a part of the herd? Not all of us
wanted to be engineers but we came to IIT because we were part of the herd of more than five lakh
sheep, out of which the shepherd chose ten thousand. Many people do regret that decision but what has
happened in the past shouldn’t be thought about at every moment. Rather experience should be derived
from it. What one should consider while finding his or her calling is that you he doesn’t involve himself in
too many things at a time because he is bound to make an idiot out of himself. Fight the pressures of the
modern world, but slowly and steadily. Don’t let your decisions be governed by what others are doing.
Have the freedom to make your own decisions and stay the course. If you want to save the country from
corruption become an administrator, if you are interested in finance join a consultancy, if you are
interested in engineering then go for it, if you want to act become an actor, but never again should you
follow a field just for the sake of it. As a great man once said,
“Don’t be a sheep, you are bound to get slaughtered”