“Big scientific projects are like mountains, which should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without urgency. The reality of your own nature should determine your speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become tense and high-strung, slow down. You should climb the mountain in a state of equilibrium. It is like climbing a mountain to reach the peak without experiencing its sides. The sides of the mountain sustain life, not the peak. This is where things grow, experience is gained, and technologies are mastered. When each task of your project is not just a means to an end but a unique event in itself, then you are doing it well.
The importance of the peak likes only in the fact that it defines the sides”~ Dr. Brahm Prakash
First Director – Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)
These words has rang a sense of work dedication that is not defined by the haste; it has to be discovered by your own pace, and your own successes & failures. People always take the shortest route, search and nurture the thought of succeeding the fast way to success. Without knowing the sides, how far can you understand the peak? Its always the collective dream of a team which would help sustain the goal to reach the peak.
“Total commitment is not just hard work, it is total involvement. Building a rock wall is back-breaking work. There are some people who build rock walls all their lives. And when they die, there are miles of walls, mute testimonials to how hard those people had worked.”
“But there are other men who, while placing one rock on top of another, have a vision in their minds, a goal. It may be a terrace with roses climbing over the rock walls and chairs set out for lazy summer days. Or the rock wall may enclose an apple orchard or mark a boundary. When they finish, they have more than a wall. It is the goal that makes the difference.”
~ Wernher von Braun
German-American scientist and father of modern rocketry
These words describe in itself of what is the ultimate goal of your life. When the vision is clear, when the goal is defined, you will have everything falling in place automatically. The universe aligns itself to the path to your goal.
The text and quotes have been taken from the “Wings of Fire” autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam Azad (Former President of India). A must read for all Project Managers and aspiring ones.