My answer may slightly differ in opinion and meaning than most other answers I’ve read here. However, like the story I’m going to share, I believe we’re all headed in the same direction.
Many questions about life’s challenges are perhaps best explained in metaphors.
This question reminds me of the story of the Tortoise and the Hare my grandfather so often told me.
The Hare
Swift, versatile, agile, clever and fast.
Tortoise
Slow, physically challenged, clumsy but intelligent and smart
Once a upon a time the Hare bragged before other animals that he was the fastest and most speedy animal on land.
“I have never yet been beaten when I put forth my full speed”, he said.
“I challenge any one here to race with me."
The Tortoise said slowly, "I accept your challenge."
"That’s a big joke," said the Hare; " You can’t even run. I could dance around you all the way. I prefer to race the Cheetah or Gazelle. Racing you is a waste of time."
“Hahahahahaaah!”, the rest of the animals laughed at and ridiculed Tortoise.
"Keep your bragging till you've won," answered the Tortoise. "Shall we race?"
So the race was agreed and fixed on a certain day, place and time.
To further humiliate the Tortoise and demean his self-confidence, the Hare went around bragging to all the other animals about how the Tortoise was slow, lazy and clumsy and how he was sure of beating the Tortoise clean, even without effort.
Everybody knew that Tortoise was the slowest animal.
After all, The Hare was more clever, versatile and faster than the Tortoise. He was sure he could even give the Tortoise a head start and still win the race.
Meanwhile, the Tortoise consulted with other tortoises. The other tortoises had an idea. They told the Tortoise that they would help him win the race.
“How?”, asked the Tortoise.
“You’ll see”, they told him. “You just go and prepare for the race.”
On the eve of the fateful day, the tortoises went and mobilized all the other tortoises and positioned each tortoise at regular intervals along the course of the race.
Finally, when the big day arrived, both the Tortoise and the Hare stood at the start line, waiting for the signal. Not wanting to miss any of the fun, all the other animals of the animal kingdom were there to witness the duel.
More importantly, most animals wanted to see why the Tortoise had such confidence to beat the Hare, despite being aware that he was no match for the Hare.
When the signal went off, the Hare didn’t even bother to take off in a hurry. He was so sure of himself. He waited until the Tortoise had plodded for some 10 minutes, and then started running, slowly but surely.
Meanwhile, the Tortoise only plodded on for some 50 meters before he was overtaken by the Hare.
And so the Hare ran and ran, sure that he had nothing to worry about.
After another 100 meters, he saw a Tortoise right ahead of him. He wondered how the Tortoise had overtaken him. He was puzzled, but kept on running, overtaking the Tortoise and being unsure of himself. He was sure that his mind was playing tricks on him.
After another 100 meters, the Hare saw another Tortoise but thought it was the same Tortoise. He could not tell whether this was a different tortoise since they all looked alike. But the Hare kept going, not suspecting even for a moment that this was a different tortoise.
There were no regulators along racing courses those days, since this was animal kingdom, therefore some of the animals were at the start line, while most of the animals were at the finish line.
The race continued. By now the Hare had gotten tired of seeing the Tortoise ahead of him every 50 or 100 meters. After what seemed like an eternity, the Hare was completely worn out and very tired from the running. He was now really confused to see the Tortoise ahead of him at every turn, yet he was sure he had overtaken him several times. He was sure he was just having a bad dream.
As he approached the finish line, he saw the Tortoise afar off near the finish line. He didn’t get it. Either something had gone seriously wrong or he was just imagining things. He hoped this was just a nightmare and he would soon get over it. By now the Tortoise was only a few feet from the finish line. How did the Tortoise get here?
With only a couple of feet to go, all the other animals were cheering the Tortoise on.
Even the other animals were not aware this was a different tortoise. They all looked alike; They couldn’t tell the difference.
The Hare panicked as he summoned all his remaining strength and collapsed just before he got to the finish line. This gave the Tortoise enough time to cross the finish line first and comfortably.
Every other animal was stunned. This was a shock defeat.
Tortoise was declared the winner.
Then the Tortoise said: "Slowly but surely, steady progress wins the race."
Indeed, slow but steady progress wins the race. That’s the case even until this day.
Still trying to figure out what strategy the Tortoise used to win the race?
This fable illustrates the realities of life. The people who win the race are not necessarily the people who play a fair game. The people who win the race are the people who know the power of leverage.
Coupled with an opportunity, leverage always wins the race over genius, cleverness, speed, strength, effort and time.
Working smarter is 100 times better than working hard. Leveraging what other people can do for you is 1,000 times better than working smarter.
