As human beings we are always bundles of thoughts and emotions and feelings.  However, it is somewhat true that our thoughts literally rule us.  If we allow bad thoughts to overwhelm us, we are sure to enter the path of ruin.  Such bad thoughts often arise due to some environmental influence or the other, particularly the circle of friends who influence us at some point of time or other.

Though the belief in fate, as such, cannot be classified as a bad thought, it can easily be classified as a "limiting thought".  For, it simply makes us somewhat numb, or lazy or simply inactive.  It tends to make us think rather negatively about any situation.  We end saying, "its all my fate".

What is fate really?  Is there something called fate? 

In the simplest of terms, fate is something that will inevitably happen to us.  By a natural extension of thought process of  this kind of inevitability, fate will simply mean something that happens to us, in spite of all our efforts, but not without them, that is, the efforts.

The next natural question is: in whose hands are these efforts?  The very simple answer is that it is very much in our hands.  

Let us take a very practical context.  Let us say, all of us wake up out of our beds at 5 AM and all of us are ready for the day at 6 AM. Who can decide what to do for the next twenty four hours, ending 5 AM the next day! 

Can we become alcoholics?  Yes,   Can we become workaholics?  Yes.  Can we work just about what is needed of us, and get away with it?  Can we work for say, eighteen hours starting 6 AM today? Yes.  This might not be so easy, but this is exactly many CEO s do.  

So, what can happen within twenty four hours is quite simply, in our hands.  We can waste all time, we can simply do some hard work, we can sleep even ten hours out of these twenty four hours and so on.  The choices are ours.

However, there are still some more questions.  I  take a scooter to work. I want to reach our office on time.  However, a bus that comes from the opposite direction hits the scooter and am badly injured.  It was never my fault and the police have also said and declared as much.  I am hospitalized for four days, and it will take another two more days for me to become quite alright. 

So, in spite of my best intentions and efforts of driving the scooter properly, I was made to suffer. Was that my fate?  Yes, if I were to call it that.

Well, we all take risks at any time of the day or night, and driving on the road is a big risk indeed.  What choice do I have?  Take a bus or cab to office?  Well, safer options may be, but things that might turn fatal too.  

So, the choice is available, and all that the effort can lead to, is that there will be nothing that will happen, and I safely reach my place, or some unfortunate accident happens, well, sometimes.  Not every day. Accidents do happen, not every day, in our lives.

However, the choices are also mine.  Well, what happens when I reach office?  I can work very hard, please the boss, even brave his barking, if he were to be one such, and go home.  Or I can do the minimum of work, and postpone everything for tomorrow.  

What I do is my choice, anyway.  At the end of the day, I have only my efforts to work on.  This is exactly what is called fate.  Each of us have thoughts.  Each of us can do anything with such thoughts.  How we get over with bad thoughts, fill our mind with only good thoughts, and still go on to make a success of our lives, is very much in our hands. 

The consequences of our actions are not always within our hands or control.  We can choose to be different, we can choose to do something very innovative, but each of these are our choices.  

So, only after all efforts can we talk about fate.  

There are some very intelligent people who will ask questions that also have answers.  Their question may be as simple as this: what if I win a lottery?  Is that also my fate?

Well, winning a lottery is a possibility.  We might win it, because only a few can win it anyway.  But luck is always a matter of chance.  It is just a probability that may happen, or may not happen.

If each of us were to buy thousands of lottery tickets and hope that we win, what will happen?  Will we all not have only the thought of winning, which is just not going to happen to most of us?

The hard truth is that the most successful people in the world, are those who have succeeded because they have always worked far beyond the simple question, " what will happen now?". For, the answers to this question are always wide open, be it to an individual or to an organization.  

Yes, it is relevant to any organization as well.  Kali Mark, a small branded soft drink maker of some soft drinks has taken on the might of Pepsi and Coca-Cola, rather successfully, and their products like Bovonto, Paneer Soda and so on, are all niche products.  They also advertise on local television and are present in some pockets of South India.  They are also trying to grow big, but are happy growing their niche, which is a conscious choice of strategy made by them.  

However, even for a moment, the owners of Kali Mark, are just not bothered that they are not investing enough on advertising, or that the multinational companies might as well come up with competing products with similar flavors.  It is mainly because the owners know that their conscious choice of strategy is based on a simple logic: a niche product is always a niche product.  Customers are addicted to it, as much as they are, to competitor products.  Word of mouth publicity will also help the brand survive.

What will happen if the owners of the Kali Mark brand are afraid to even make their first move, that is, trying to build a niche brand, because of their fear of failure? So, fear of failure would have been the limiting thought.  The reality is different.  Kali Mark is also a brand worth over a one hundred crore rupees, and it is indeed continuing to grow.  

So, let us all grow far beyond our limiting thoughts.  How best we make use of any situation,using very effectively all the resources at our command and in our control, is very much in the realm of a real thing happening. It can happen, It will happen.  Fear of failure is one thought that we should banish from our thoughts.  

Of course, when we are depressed because of some reason, due to the death of our dear ones, for example, it does take some time for us to get back to normal life.  It is wise to let go, in such situations.  When we allow things to just settle down, we can be back to the cycle of doing our best in the circumstances, given all the realities of the situation on hand.  

In conclusion, it should be understood that actions concerning our life are largely a question of our choices.  Fate cannot conquer us.  We should in fact, limit its reach or its effect to the maximum extent possible, through our actions.