The Email That Decided Everything
My arms started trembling as I was about to click on the email. I could feel my hands getting closer to the mouse, struggling to make the subtle movement of clicking. Tiny pores of sweat fell onto the desk mat, leaving stains as if it had rained indoors.
I clicked the email.
Everything went silent.
There were no crickets chirping and the sound from the movie in the background became dimmer.
I could only hear my rapid breathing.
Five seconds in, and it opened.
There it was. The email that could determine everything. All the effort I had put for years lay in the words displayed on that email. In that last second, I quickly shifted my perception by repeating “I am going to make it” and started glancing over the lengthy email to find the result. It read “Sparsh was not selected for a Student Leadership position for 2026”.
My heartbeat dropped.
I had failed again.
This can’t be the third time. I had made so many improvements, poured my heart into the speech, then received half of the cohort’s votes, and still didn’t get Student Leader. “What could I have done wrong?” I wondered, as I thought about slamming the laptop lid shut “Why. Why am I a failure?”.
I saw this as the end.
No more trying.
No more putting in effort.
No more thinking about it.
The first two thoughts kept me stuck in a sorrowful state. But it was the last one that shifted my mindset. “No more thinking about it”. When thoughts started piling up, I quickly rejected each one. “I made it”, “There’s no way I didn’t”, “The email was sent by accident”. Each one I ignored, later to realise that this was a signal.
After five minutes in deep reflection and constantly telling myself that I am a failure, I took action.
On my laptop I pulled up a personal growth video I was previously watching and went deep into its concepts. It discussed having a vision for what you want to achieve.
To have a direction where you can point your arrow to and move closer each day towards your desired direction.
This video made me realise that my arrow was pointed towards the Student Leadership Role, which felt small compared to what I am trying to build.
Thirty minutes went by, and I had learnt so much from that one video that it gave me the courage to go and read the full email.
The Power of Small Changes
Throughout my years of high school, I had constantly failed.
I couldn’t get that A grade I desired in maths.
I couldn’t even place higher than a participation in a competition.
And now, I still couldn’t come out as a winner. I didn’t achieve the one thing I wanted the most.
Suddenly, everything changed in just a matter of seconds.
Another email popped up in front of my eyes.
The first word I saw was ‘ERROR’.
“Could this be it” I wondered, “Did I get the role. Was the email an error”.
With my confidence at its peak, I opened the email to read:
“Sparsh was selected to be Year 10 Student Leader for 2026”.
“I had achieved something. I HAD ACHIEVED SOMETHING!”
This time only in excitement, I slammed the laptop lid shut again.
You see, I hadn’t gotten this role by luck. The wrong email was a mistake, but the role was earned through effort.
At the start of Year 9, I had decided to make a significant change in my behaviour. Instead of simply saying good morning, I asked “how are you”.
Instead of showing sympathy, I showed empathy by asking “how can I help”.
I made all these small incremental changes which no one noticed. In the Easter break I read Atomic Habits, a book that taught me the power of small actions, and how they compound over time to create everlasting results. These overall unnoticeable changes which seemed insignificant at the moment had led me to acquire trust, expand my network, and create lasting relationships.
This change was the key.
The key to achieving my goals.
I started using this in maths at school and got 100% on a test by distributing the amount of studying I did each day into one hour a day.
This was used in writing these articles, where I found the simplest improvements to make from feedback provided, and each one turned out to be much better.
It was even implemented each time I went to the gym in which I set a schedule to focus specific muscles each day leading to remarkable results over time.
This article isn’t about how to succeed at anything, which isn’t possible, it is about the underestimated power of playing the game until you win.
Understanding the Game
So, what is the game?
The game is your habits.
Your habits reflect how you think and behave. Let’s go back to my Student Leader story. After I had started making those small behavioural changes towards my friends, they eventually compounded into defining my character.
The picture my peers had created about me in their heads changed to me being a nice, caring and trustworthy person. They accepted it as my identity. Once that shift was created, it was hard for me to go back to my normal ways, as it felt unusual and not a part of who I was.
We now know that the game to keep playing is performing your habits consistently, but we need to know which habits to implement. This is where it is crucial to understand what direction you want to head towards.
Goals are your direction, but not your instruction manual. Systems are what help you to stay aligned.
Systems are actionable routines that force you to stay aligned with your goals. Whenever you drift off from the direction you want to head towards, your systems are what will push you to be back on track.
Let’s connect everything that we have learnt so far. To achieve something, you must keep trying until you win. To keep trying, small consistent improvements are required in each attempt. Then these consistent improvements would translate into habits which you perform daily.
To be able to do your habits daily, an identity change is required that redefines who you are and systems are required to keep you aligned with your goals.
This is how to implement what I have discussed today.
If you follow all these steps, you’ll keep making progress, and you’ll keep playing long enough to win.
Final Thoughts
From almost quitting to getting the one thing I desired the most, one thing became clear.
Everyone fails. I could have quit after failing for two years in a row, but I chose not to, and this was the best decision I had ever made.
What separates the successful and the average is that the winners overcome failure and keep trying until they eventually win. Remember, the only way to fail is by quitting.
Remember, the only way to fail is by quitting.