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By:

Asha Tripathi

14 April 2025 at 1:35:28 pm

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along...

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along with growth has come another silent challenge — the tendency to constantly observe, compare, and sometimes even compete with the journeys of others. But a crucial question arises: Is it necessary to track the growth of others in order to grow ourselves? From my personal experience of more than two decades as an entrepreneur, I have realised something very powerful — true growth begins the moment we stop looking sideways and start looking within. A Small Beginning I had a flourishing career of teaching abroad, but when I restarted my career after moving back to India, my beginning was extremely small. My very first assignment was a simple home tuition for a single student, and the amount I earned was meagre. There was nothing glamorous about it. No recognition, no large batches, no big earnings. Just one student and one opportunity. But instead of worrying about how others were doing, how many students they had, or how much they were earning, I made a conscious decision—my only focus would be on improving myself. I focused on teaching better, preparing better, and becoming more disciplined and consistent. And slowly, without even realising it, things began to grow. One student became two, two became a small group, and gradually, over the years, the work expanded beyond what I had initially imagined. Looking back today, I can confidently say that the growth did not happen because I competed with others. It happened because I competed with myself yesterday. Comparison Creates Noise When we keep watching others' journeys too closely, we unknowingly divert our own energy. Comparison creates unnecessary noise in our minds. It brings doubts, insecurities, and sometimes even negativity. Instead of walking our own path with clarity, we start questioning our speed, our direction, and our worth. True success grows through focus, not comparison. Every woman has her own story, her own pace, and her own struggles that others may never see. The path of one person can never be identical to another's. So comparing journeys is like comparing two different rivers flowing towards the same ocean — each with its own route, its own curves, and its own rhythm. As women, we already carry many responsibilities. We balance emotions, relationships, work, and society's expectations. In such a life, the last thing we need is the burden of comparison with one another. Instead, what we truly need is support for each other. When women encourage women, something extraordinary happens. Confidence grows. Opportunities multiply. Strength becomes collective rather than individual. There is enough space in the world for every woman to create her own identity. Each of us can build our own niche without stepping on someone else's path. Choose Encouragement Envy weakens us, but encouragement empowers us. Rather than questioning how someone else is progressing, we can ask a more meaningful question: "How can I grow a little better than I was yesterday?" Lift As You Rise Today, after twenty years of experience, the most valuable lesson I have learned is simple yet profound — focus on your own work with honesty and dedication, and success will quietly follow you. We, women, are capable, resilient, and creative. We do not need to pull each other down or compete in unhealthy ways. Instead, we can lift each other up while building our own dreams. Because when one woman rises, she does not rise alone. She inspires many others to believe that they can rise, too. And perhaps that is the most beautiful form of success. (The writer is a tutor based in Thane. Views personal.)

Alpine Promises

There is something faintly theatrical about Indian Chief Ministers flying to Davos to sign memoranda of understanding, as if Switzerland’s thin air confers a special aura of credibility. On the opening day of the World Economic Forum, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said his government had signed 19 MoUs worth a heady Rs. 14.5 lakh crore, promising 15 lakh jobs across sectors ranging from green energy to quantum computing. The numbers are grand.


Yet back home, the contrast is harder to ignore. Mumbai, the state’s economic engine and supposed gateway for foreign investment, groans under collapsing roads, unreliable suburban trains, flooding every monsoon and a skyline punctured by unfinished projects. Against this backdrop, it is fair to ask whether the spectacle of Davos offers diminishing returns and whether the money spent on delegations, pavilions and Alpine networking might be better deployed fixing the infrastructure that ordinary citizens actually use.


MoUs, after all, are expressions of intent, often vague, sometimes recycled. Maharashtra has long been a champion of the Davos numbers game, routinely topping investment-tally charts each January. Yet the conversion rate, the proportion of promised investment that actually materialises, remains stubbornly opaque. Governments announce cumulative figures with pride but they are less eager to publish audited follow-ups showing how many factories were built, how many jobs proved permanent, and how many projects quietly withered once the headlines faded.


This year’s announcements follow a familiar pattern. Data centres, renewable energy, logistics and real estate dominate the list. Lodha Developers’ additional Rs. 1 lakh crore commitment to a data centre park was presented as a marquee achievement, even though the company had already signed a Rs. 30,000 crore MoU months earlier under an existing state policy. If such deals hinge on foreign partners, why must they be sanctified at Davos at all?


The government’s defence is that global investors are present at the WEF and Maharashtra accounts for 39% of India’s FDI. All this is true up to a point. Maharashtra’s size, talent pool and financial depth would anyway attract capital with or without snow-capped mountains. What investors also notice, though, are bottlenecks in form of creaking infrastructure and the urban governance that struggles to keep pace with growth. These are not problems that can be solved by signing ceremonies abroad.


Consider Mumbai’s infrastructure backlog. Roads are dug up with ritual regularity and restored poorly. The suburban rail network, lifeline to millions, remains dangerously overcrowded despite years of promises. Drainage upgrades lag behind climate reality, ensuring annual floods. A city that works is the best investment pitch any Chief Minister can make.


There is also a political economy to Davos theatrics. MoUs create an aura of momentum, useful in domestic politics and investor optics alike. But they can distract from the harder, less glamorous work of execution.


This is not to argue that Maharashtra should shun foreign investors or global forums. But engagement should be a means, not an end.


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