As soon as the mile started, they would take the lead and hold on to it, competing amongst themselves for the front. Then there was the group in the middle; they were just hanging around, not trying to compete but trying to pass the mile with a comparatively good score. 

Then we had the group lagging behind, who were trying their very best to win but still could not do anything. They were still lagging behind no matter what. 

Then we had the group who didn’t even care; they couldn’t care less about the mile and were just walking at the back. They didn’t care about the punishment or anything else. 

Amongst all these groups, the one that fascinated me most was the group that used to run the mile with all their capacity, strength, and energy, but then, at the very end — just before the moment they were supposed to win — they would stop. 

When that happened, they would lose. They would fail the mile and end up as failures. They would go back to their hostels defeated in both mind and body.

So, my question to them used to be: why do you guys give up right before the finish line? When you see victory is so near and just before you are supposed to be successful, you just give up. Why did you do that? 

There was one person whom I asked this question the most: the guy I faced in the mirror. Because there were times when I was the leader of the mile — I was one of the most competitive people we had and the most successful as well — and then there were times when I was not the best; I was rather much weaker and had low motivation. 

What used to happen was that when I started the mile, I already had the thought in my mind that I might fail. “What if I fail? What if I fail? What if I fail?” This one sentence used to be in my mind for long periods of time: before the mile, during the mile, and even right at the end. 

I used to run the mile thinking about this the whole time. I didn’t know where I got this mentality that I might fail, and this fear would bring me to the point where I would actually fail the mile as well. I would run the mile with the mentality that I was a failure. 

That was the root cause of my failure in the mile in reality. There were times when I used to think that maybe I could pass today, but every time I was near the finish line, my body and mind would give up. 

I would slow down and stop, and when that happened, I would know in my heart and mind that I had lost. It was not because I didn’t know how to be more courageous, or because I wasn’t fit enough, or because I didn’t put in the practice — I did a lot of training. 

But even then, at every point in the mile, I used to feel weak. I used to feel like a failure even before the race had begun, and that made me fail in reality as well.

Now, what I want to teach you from this is that the mindset you carry along the way and before you even start determines what is going to happen to you during the mile, the competition, and the journey. 

If you always come with the mindset that you are going to fail, then you ARE going to fail; there is no doubt about it. 

You will quit at some point where you feel that this is more than you can carry or bear, and then you will not be able to see what success looks like. That is something you are basically depriving yourself of.

Hence, the repercussions of not being able to remove the failure mindset are that you actually become a failure even if you are not one. 

The moment I was able to remove this mindset from my life, I was able to stand against any kind of adversity and actually build something. 

So, the lesson I learned is that if you are repeatedly quitting at the very end of the line, just put this into your mind: if you quit right now, you will never know what success looks like. 

If you keep going a little bit farther, I am sure that when you look back later in life, you will see something to be proud of. You will know in your heart and mind that you were on the verge of quitting and giving up, yet you carried on. 

You did not give up or lay back, and that is what will make all the difference in your life.