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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.)

Oil Siege

Washington’s oil squeeze of Venezuela risks collective punishment without significant political gain.

US President Donald Trump’s declaration of a “total and complete blockade” of Venezuelan oil shipments marks a sharp escalation in America’s long-running campaign against Nicolás Maduro. Framed as an enforcement action against sanctioned tankers and ‘ghost ships,’ the move in effect threatens the single remaining artery of Venezuela’s economy. Oil, besides being Venezuela’s principal export, is the state’s last functioning source of cash, patronage and political survival. Choking it further may deepen the country’s misery but it is far from clear that it will loosen Maduro’s grip on power.


Venezuela has been living under American oil sanctions for six years. In that time, Caracas has perfected the art of evasion. Crude has been sold quietly at heavy discounts, mostly to China, via a shadow fleet of ageing tankers, frequent ship-to-ship transfers and creative paperwork. The proceeds have been meagre, but sufficient to keep the lights on in the presidential palace. Trump’s blockade aims to disrupt this system by raising the risks and costs of moving Venezuelan oil at all.


The economic consequences could be severe. Venezuela produces roughly one million barrels a day - just 2 percent of global output but almost all of its export earnings. Analysts warn that exports could fall by as much as half if sanctioned tankers are seized regularly or deterred from docking. Storage capacity is limited. If oil cannot be shipped, production will have to be shut in, potentially slashing output by hundreds of thousands of barrels a day. For a country already hollowed out by hyperinflation, mass emigration and institutional decay, the shock would be brutal.


This would not be Venezuela’s first oil collapse. Production once exceeded three million barrels a day in the early 2000s. Years of corruption, underinvestment and political purges at PDVSA, the state oil company, drove output to a nadir of 350,000 barrels a day by 2020. A modest recovery followed, helped by sanctions-busting exports and a limited easing of American restrictions. The blockade now threatens to reverse even that fragile rebound.


The pain will be felt unevenly. Chevron, operating under a special American licence, continues to ship oil to the United States and accounts for about a tenth of Venezuela’s production. But even this arrangement starves Caracas of cash: Chevron pays taxes and royalties in crude, not dollars. The real blow will fall on exports to Asia, particularly China, which takes around 80 percent of Venezuelan crude. Discounted barrels will grow cheaper still, if buyers are willing to risk them at all. Billions of dollars in annual revenue could vanish.


Trump has accused Maduro of using oil income to fund ‘drug terrorism’ and criminality, and casts America’s growing naval presence in the Caribbean as an extension of its war on narcotics. Yet the optics are awkward. Since September, American forces have seized dozens of vessels and killed at least 95 people, including fishermen. For Caracas, the blockade fits neatly into a familiar narrative of imperial aggression and resource theft.


The deeper problem is strategic. Sanctions have undeniably impoverished Venezuela. They have not, however, produced political change. Maduro has survived by shrinking the economy, dollarising informally, tolerating pockets of private enterprise and relying on loyal security forces. As the state’s revenues fall, the burden shifts to ordinary Venezuelans, not the ruling elite. A sharper oil squeeze may accelerate emigration, not democratisation.


Any sudden loss of Venezuelan barrels nudges oil prices upward, as markets already hinted after the blockade was announced. China, meanwhile, will weigh how much it is willing to antagonise Washington to secure discounted crude.


A blockade that halves Venezuela’s exports will not dislodge its authoritarian ruler. It will merely crush an economy already on life support, pushing ordinary Venezuelans deeper into penury while the political elite insulates itself, as it always has. Oil has long been Venezuela’s curse as well as its blessing. By turning it into a chokehold, Washington may deepen the tragedy without resolving it. Siege economics can break states but they rarely reform them. 


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