The Wisdom of Cartoons

This week in ISM, my teacher instructed us to make a list of quantifiable goals for ourselves to achieve on a short term, mid term, and long term basis; these could be personal, professional, or even physical. I finished this with ease as I clearly knew what my goals were, but as time progressed, it seemed to me like I would be less and less likely to accomplish these goals by the given due dates. I was quickly becoming disheartened and felt that by not accomplishing these goals by the delineated time, I would be failing and letting down myself and those that are believing in me. But inspiration struck from a surprising avenue.

I was watching a popular animated T.V. show called Naruto. In this, I observed one character in particular, whose attitude I thought resembled mine. His name was Rock Lee, and he was particularly talentless. However, everyday, he set goals for himself to accomplish, and when his body collapsed from the strenuous work and he was unable to reach his goal, he arose and set another tougher goal to compensate for his inability. Rock Lee would say, “If I can’t do 100 push-ups today, I will run 300 laps tomorrow”, increasing the intensity of his goal with each failure. Everyday he went out and followed this routine, and slowly he improved.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” Watching Rock Lee progress made me realize the truth behind Emerson’s words. I learned that inability to reach a goal currently, does not constitute failure, and that I should continue to set new goals that are extremely difficult to reach, because unless I push my limits and redefine my goals and boundaries, i can never get better.