A Lesson from Christopher Columbus

The Columbus legend is such: Columbus wanted to sail to “India” (which included most of Southeast Asia) to collect spices, silk, and riches. When Columbus proposed his plan, everyone laughed at his crazy idea and told him he was going the wrong way. “You can't get to India by going west,” they said. But Columbus didn’t listen. He persuaded some financial backers, bought a few ships and found some men who were ready to follow him, and set off.

On his journey, two of his three ships sank, many of his crew died, and the overall voyage was a near-disaster, but Columbus pressed forward. Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, I am sure Columbus realized that he had no clue where he was of how he was going to reach India, and that there was no map to aid him.

Finally, partly by chance, Columbus reached land. When he touched down, he asked “this must be India”. But not only did he learn that he had failed to reach India, he was farther away from India than when he started.

 He didn’t even get to name the continent after himself, but it went to his rival Amerigo Vespucci.

Columbus utterly failed in his quest to reach India, but instead landed in North America —which it turns out, was an important historical event.

Life is like that. The more you dream big, the more people will mock and question your goals. Much like the waves of the oceans, challenges and obstacles will batter you along life’s journey. You may very well lose your way and sense of direction. Most of us will end up nowhere near the career or personal goals we set when we started out.

But if we dream big, follow our own course, and never give up, we can achieve greatness.