TO CONFORM OR NOT TO CONFORM

My chess coach once said to me, "Learn all the principles of chess, apply them religiously, obey all instructions and your game will improve". He was right! My game did improve; most people who follow the tenets above also get considerable remunerations. 

However, over time I found out that knowing when to deviate from laid-down principles sets you apart. In life just like it is in chess, one has to be outstanding in order to stand out! Truism I guess.

You must know when to go against the norm. You must know when to do more or abstain. This 'wisdom' usually emanates from experience, but is available only to those with an open mind. 

"I still maintain it's important to control the centre. But for top guys, it's all about the exceptions to the general rules."

...Grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer

Every great master in chess knows that you 'arrive' when you can instinctively tell when to go against the entrenched principles.

Don't be scared to stand out. Use the principles others have used to excel as guidelines, but never allow them form an absolute boundary around your thoughts and actions. History proves that most exceptional people did exceptional things.
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"Conform" is the first law. Know when not to conform is the second.

Don't live your life in a cage designed by others. Be yourself. You were made to stand out! Live free.

PERSEVERANCE

In Chess there is a popular saying, "No one ever won a game by resigning". How true this rings in life. Life imitates chess, or is it vice versa? They are one and the same to me.

Giving up usually seems the easiest way out in most trying situations. It's probably our default setting. We hear of people committing suicides daily. We quit when we face difficulties, resistance or even the slightest challenge.

Some of us are cowards, others are just sluggards, while a vast number of us can't stand the shame or comments/criticisms of the ever ready nay-sayers or/and head shakers.

Most of us are people-pleasers and thus more worried about what others will say than what it'll take to pick ourselves up and try again, or harder.

If we keep at it, hope lingers. Once you resign, you are done! The universe has laws. Everyone succumbs to them no matter our religious, economic or social affiliations. For example, "You reap what you sow", "Everything that goes up must come down" , "You attract that which you think about, fear or meditate upon". These are all laws of the Universe! This is too, "When you give up, you fail, if you don't give up, you will succeed at some point". History is littered with proof if this law, from Abraham Lincoln to Thomas Edison.

Never give up on your dreams, goals and aspirations. You will definitely get 'there' if you keep at it!

Hang in there!


E. P. Chukwuwikeh, 20/08/2014

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