An easy way out is usually an easy way down!
When we make a decision on the basis of short term convenience and/or relative ease viz a viz other alternatives we might be choosing to go under the hurdle rather than over it. And after finishing the race we might come to know that the effort has come to naught.
The realization is almost always in the hind sight!
This applies to one and all: students, entrepreneurs, politicians, sports persons, the list is endless.Here I am not preaching against corruption. Even being corrupt requires guts, planning, innovation etc. Although the downfall may come in different ways, at least the initial (and in some cases steep) rise is there.
I am talking about more insidious vices. And before I share them, I would categorically state that I am not immune to them and trying to get rid of them.
The first vice, complacence, usually plagues the good performers. Companies like Nokia have experienced this. Nokia that lost a significant market share while choosing to overlook the growing demand for dual sim cards found itself guilty of choosing an easy way to simply carry on. There are instances from the arena of politics too. In most of the cases, anti incumbency is a fall out of this weakness of governments viz. complacence. Otherwise with all the power in hand and the right intent who can stop a government from retaining power. Students getting easy 90 percent marks later realize they could have topped and got much better colleges. Sales people who narrowly miss the incentive target rue the lack of one more followup.
The narrower the miss, the bigger the pain.
The second vice which is more rampant due to a larger vulnerable population is setting soft and easy targets.
In fact it is not the enormity of the target that intimidates. Rather, it is the anticipation of a huge effort that gets people ducking. So what do they do? They go for something which is attainable without a great effort.
On a sarcastic note, I would say that we sometimes aspire for a special greatness (something yet to be achieved) : to achieve something great by putting an ordinary effort.
Where can it get us? Exactly where running on a treadmill can take someone: nowhere. We often come across people with similar marks (at ordinary level) through out their academic life, when intellectually they deserve much better marks. Companies that commendably become sustainable against odds and remain sustainable but lamentably remain just there, when they could have broken into the next and the bigger league.
One good thing about success is that not many people sincerely seek it. Therefore, there should be huge motivation in sincerely and honestly beginning with an effort to overcome these two shortcomings, viz. Complacence and Setting easy targets.
the opiniator 
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