Acharya Prashant responds to a questioner who feels like a failure for not being able to progress despite her efforts to learn new things and change her life. He begins by reassuring her that even her tears are a sign of improvement and advises her not to underestimate the odds she is up against. He explains that she is challenging centuries of history and millions of years of the human body's evolution, specifically the female body. In such a monumental battle, he states, one should not look for quick gains. He tells her to forget about progress, as even a stalemate is a victory. He emphasizes that as long as she does not quit, she is victorious even if she continues to lose. The speaker describes the force she is fighting as a "mammoth enemy" and a "huge beast" that has devoured the entire population of the planet. Therefore, she should feel proud of even her little successes. He calls her attempt rare and unique, something that only one in a million people even attempts. He encourages her to have self-esteem and not to look for quick gains, as they will not come her way. He says there is dignity in the right struggle, which is what is known as "Nishkam Karma"—action without attachment to the outcome. Acharya Prashant elaborates that sometimes, mere indifference to results is not enough; one must be disdainful of them. This is because the results will almost always be against her, making ugly faces and trying to break her faith. He advises her to be contemptuous of the results, saying, "To hell with all my failures." He asserts that it is sufficient that she exists as she must and is not quitting. He encourages her to be ready for the next failure and to learn the dignity in defeat. The world, he says, sells cheap battles and thus glorifies winners, but in the right battle, winning is a utopian luxury. Just standing firm is enough. He cautions her against using worldly yardsticks to measure her success or failure, as her journey is like climbing Mount Everest, where progress is slow. He points out that she is comparing herself to the world, even her son, but her standards must be different because she is doing something in a different dimension. He concludes by advising her to be honest and loving in her attempts, give it her all, and be disdainful of the results, because her victory lies in the attempt itself.
