Know the STATUS!

It’s 01:45 AM and I am still up. Okay, let’s put it this way, sleep is evading me. I m trying to, but just not able to and so I am, as I said “UP”. Thinking, thinking and thinking and even more thinking... I am writing 1 and deleting 2 and result of which I am just not getting started. Ohhhh!!! So there lies the problem; I am yet to get started.

I work as a consultant but that’s just on my vCard. I am for more than a year trying to convince myself that I am consultant. Well, I am, I think so, ohhh, I think I might be close to one or I actually am one….What d hell, I am so bloody confused. Having said that I also have to concur to the fact that, hmmmm….. Yes, I m much better placed than where I could have been if I rewind the clock tick by more than a year and find out where I was. Anyways, that’s another problem, “being satisfied”, you never should be, I say.

Back at my workplace we set up processes to run on their own. Those poor guys keep on running, running and processing, processing and more processing. Ohhhkay, please do not be confused…by guys I meant processes. I am confused, I said it or did I? Nevamind! So we set up processes to pick up data and process it. So beautifully it has been set up by some really brilliant people who I feel are the real consultants. The processes run on their own, we just need to set them off. Once started, they begin processing the data fed in and once done the process sends out an email to our outlook. These are nothing but notifications for us to know the status of the process. Depending on the kind of data that has been put in the process completes and sends out an email stating process “Completed successfully”, “Completed with warnings” and “Completed with errors”. It’s pretty obvious from the statuses what they mean. When it completes successfully we know all is fine, when with warnings, it is like…Okay – you need to look into it, looks like something needs attention. When it errors out then….boss, the process is screwed and we need to get into it to find out the issue and resolve it.

As a student we have always had three options; study on time, study just on time (mind you, there is a big difference between those two) and don’t study at all. Let me safely assume that at least 90% of us fall in the “just on time” category as a result of which we get into the details of the process of our life only when it errors out. We have grossly assumed that are processes of life are “completing successfully” as a result of which we are running away from introspecting where we stand. And with the talent that we all possess we manage to hold on by the skin of our teeth when we see “completed with errors” by doing some kickass firefighting. We are good at inspecting which is done after an error. Eventually, after a hell lot of firefighting we know we have done saved our asses and while doing so have learnt the system. Now the third status; completed with warnings is Okay kind of thing for us. We kind of overlook this notification and assume all is right and proceed. So the thing is when on time we are successful; when an error, we are good and on towards the path to be successful, obviously with lot of firefighting involved. However, the most dangerous one is the one with the warning. We just tend to grossly assume that it is successful because it is just a warning and not an error.

Coming to the crux of the story for which I am penning this down…we succeed only when we do what our parents and teachers taught us i.e. always keep measure of the time and do not let it slip out of hand. We can also succeed when we fail i.e. we see errors; we stand up and try and face it which gives us courage and confidence of being smarter for the next time. The issue with all of us is that the life is sending out warnings which we need to look out at like errors, but as smart as we are, we read it as “completing successfully” and ignore it. To make matters worse we know that warning is a warning and needs to be looked into but we wait for someone to tell us.

We need to be a good student of the life and try and learn and understand these status updates on our timeline lifeline. We will only succeed when we will be proactive in our life and stop assuming that getting a 9-10 hour job in a cozy conditioned environment, a laptop, few onsite visits means we have won the world cup. The day when we start reading between the lines through the above statuses and stop being satisfied we will create a LIFE out of our life.