What better way is there to live?

Marie Curie was a legend, she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win two Nobel Prize in two different sciences, She together with her husband discovered radioactivity, a concept that helped study the structure of the atom, and radium which is central to cancer treatment. That was the mark she left in the world and that's the headline that will go down in history. What this introduction doesn't tell you is how many failures and adversities she had to endure before achieving the role model status. Well, lots of it, in fact following the most unconventional route possible she had to earn whatever she accomplished. (Hint: it was the 19th century, women were not allowed to study let alone in the sciences and a Pole when Russia controlled Poland).

Here are some anecdotes history won't tell you about. She couldn't afford university education, so she made an agreement with her sister where each would for the other. So, she worked to pay for her sister's education, who would return the favor once she graduated. In college, she had to work for her up keep, sometimes fainting due to hunger or the cold. She and her husband were invited to a conference in London but she wasn't allowed to speak  because she was a woman. She wasn't dominated for the Noble Prize by the committee in the first place, her husband was, it was the Swedish mathematician Goester who proposed her , after he was nominated. She had to conduct her research in her backyard because she couldn't get a lab. In short Marie suffered it all , yet she conquered all.

She could have taken the easier route, become a house wife and live happily ever after, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't her definition of happy. I quote her own words, "Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that?We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that thing must be attained. That thing must be attained even if our achievements are lost to history."  This is as inspiring as it gets. When it feels like its all tumbling down, don't quit , instead,  ask yourself, what better is there to live? 

Forget balance , try focus.

 

I'm gonna talk about diamonds and waterfalls today. They may be completely different things but they both illustrate one common and very important lesson; the power of concentration. Diamond is made of Carbon, the same stuff that makes charcoal and pencils, but we don't see anyone singing about the latter and there is a reason; concentration. Diamond is made from Graphite under very intense pressure and temperature, another synonym for concentration. Same applies to waterfalls, ordinary water has nothing special, we use it without even noticing, focus it to pour a cliff and governments will make a fortune out of tourists. 

So much for just one word? Not exactly. We live in a society that upholds normal even though we can't clearly define normal is, we resonate with words like balanced, well rounded, versatile , multitasking among others. Which is a good thing if all these other things contribute to one final goal, otherwise it is of no significant value. The main and probably only reason Leonardo da Vinci is still popular is because he did it all. He did engineering, architecture, painting , biology, mathematics, physics, geology and more, probably all the professions of the 21st century. He did it all, but he didn't do it all at once. Actually , he was primarily a painter, then pursued other fields later in life. 

There is no shortcut to mastery, its focus. It is through focus that priorities are made, that willpower is efficiently used and everything falls into place. It may sound like getting lazy but it actually gives you energy to do even more. 

Have an amazing week ahead!