Picasso – The painter
Best way to Success
In the 20th century, there was a very famous Spanish painter named ‘Pablo Picasso’. Once he traveled to a city and met a woman in a social gathering, who happened to be a middle-class personage. After a formal greeting, she asked him to give something which she could keep as a remembrance of the great painter.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have anything with him to give her at that moment when one idea struck his mind and he came back with a paper. Then and there, he made a painting in thirty seconds. Handing it over to that lady he said with a grin, “I have nothing else to give you than this million-dollar painting”. The woman was perplexed and confused. She thought it to be a ruse to fend her off. Disheartened, she accepted the painting and went away.
After few days when a merchant saw the art piece, the woman got to know that the price of the improvised gift was actually millions of dollars because of the signature of the legendary painter in the corner. With strange curiosity and amazement, she went on to search for Picasso. As she finally found him, she showed him the painting and thanked him with indescribable emotions. Picasso smiled and welcomed her. The woman paused and hesitantly said, “I have another favor to ask of you. I am exceedingly mesmerized by your sheer talent of creating a quick painting which people are ready to buy for millions of dollars. I want to learn your art so that I too can become rich.”
To this, the great Picasso gave a modest smile and replied, “Madam! To draw that 30-second painting, I have devoted ’30 years’ of my life to practice my skill no matter what situation I would be in, what place I would be at, and what problems I faced until I reached my success. Are you willing to devote 30 years of your life to it?”
The woman turned speechless.
The message of the above story is that we only see the glamorous, bright side of the successful people around us and start wishing to be like them. But so little do we wonder about the hardships they faced, the sacrifices they made all throughout their lives to fulfill their dreams, which is the price you have to pay in order to play an extra-ordinary role on the stage of the world.
Before Picasso could become a remarkable painter, he faced many challenges in his life such as financial troubles at the beginning of the journey, the death of his seven-year-old sister when he was ten, traveling to various places without money. In addition, his post success era witnessed a war against art conservatism, the criticism against his artwork, relationship failures accompanied by depression, and what not
As successful we want to be, we have to do as much hard work. But only a few people are able to do that. The rest watch the successful from a distance and say, ‘how lucky!!!
Nowadays you get to hear ” Work smart … not hard”. In the cyberage 30yrs is a few generations
I appreciate the trend of working smart in the fast paced world. It is about making the right choices, analyzing the latest trends and putting your best efforts in those few chosen places. So results come easy. But hard work is required in holding on to those choices and methods. Both the things go hand in hand to make you a successful person. It’s just that, long time back, hard work was all that would be required. But considering the countless options that internet provides, “you need to make smart choices before you start working hard!”