What’s your Decision?

Work hard and succeed is the mantra we have been taught all life. Wonder how our education system has been so dim-witted and obsolete. We have never been educated enough to decide what to work hard for/on? The emphasis here is not to point out the flawed education system so let’s come back to the main topic about making decisions, tough decisions. It’s only after burning our hands & cracking our heads we realize we are better at something else. Come this day and now we are entangled in the life-web where we have realized our strength but are bound by n number of other responsibilities that keep us pulling down from following the path we should always have been. That’s when we end up with no decision and continue the mediocre life. But have you ever realized “I did not take a decision” also means that you took a decision? Life is all about making decisions, tough at times. Our inability to have the guts to do so pushes us in to the rat race. A single rotten mango spoils others but in our case all the mangoes are rotten which clearly spoils us towards indecisiveness. We need to have the heart to stand up and believe in self. The day we start believing in our ability we will be able to take head-strong decisions. The day we believe in standing up in spite of faltering we will be able to take decisions. The day we realize we can do the undoable and beat the unbeatable we will be able to take decisions. But for that we need to take a decision…that we need to decide and not leave it to the almighty. The decision might turn out wrong but the attitude will definitely be not and as we all know it’s the attitude and not the aptitude…

So….. What’s your Decision?

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.

The Story of "Fire Extinguisher"

This is a story of a teenager; now in mid 20s and a completely different person who has been through couple of phases through his life. One phase during the teens and the next one, the current one in the early & mid 20s. These two phases have been a marque of complete disparity. All those people who know him would be extremely happy with the way he, his career, his life has shaped up now. They would definitely vote for the second phase of his life being outstanding and brilliant because he was a real rough and arrogant guy during his teens while today he has settled down and is much like every other lad in the town working morning to evening, 5 days a week, and enjoying the weekends. However, he was not like this always. He gave a damn to the life and lived it like a king. He was arrogant but witty; he was naughty but with an entire bucket full of fire in the belly; he was irregular to classes but bright enough to cover all the stuff within days; he was a joker but never a joke himself. He had a huge reservoir always full with ideas that would make him stand out of the crowd. Making tough stuff look easy was what he liked. He loved chilling out when others slogged their asses out. He did numerous things while in college that only few would do. He rode his 97cc bike like a MotoGP bike. People were scared to sit behind him and the kind of arrogance he had he never ever cared slowing down at least for that ride, not even for the one sitting behind him. It was just a “My Way or Highway” scenario. He sold T-shirts; he sold customized sweatshirts; he burnt CDs and sold them. He stuffed up the entire Car with around 1000 management novels, drove in to the campus, set the boot open and sold almost all of them like a roadside bookseller would do. He never felt “What would others think?”, “Would I look stupid while doing this?”. He did what he felt he should do.

Pages of life have been flipped and a new chapter has begun. He has changed. He has mellowed down. The fire in the belly doesn’t seem to be the same that was there earlier. The fire has started extinguishing. Today the same guy after half a dozen of years has moved ahead and got into a cozy desk job. Making money out of nothing which he once loved has now made its way to a salary account that gets credited every month. To be realistic he has not moved ahead; he has gone a couple of steps backward. He has entered into a comfort zone. All his closed ones like the current phase of his but deep within he knows he is not heading into the right direction. He has become mechanical. His life is now nothing but a routine. He has got lost in the crowd and is in search of mental satisfaction more than anything else. He needs to know soon that there is someone who is acting as a “Fire Extinguisher” and he also needs to know that ‘that someone’ is no one else but himself. He has been a bad “Fire Extinguisher” because he has forgotten that he is dousing off the fire that actually needs to be fuelled with more and more oil, fuel; whatever you wanna call or anything else that you wanna use.

Dear Readers, I know majority of you would find yourselves in the same position and would definitely relate the above story with yourselves. We all have got immense fire and talent to back it up but we do not use it to the optimum, in fact we dont use it. Don’t become a “Fire Extinguisher” to douse the inner fire that will take you nowhere. Let the fire spread not only within yourself but also among your friends and peers only to be successful and create something unique in our life. Remember, there's only 1 life and believe me it's short. Let's work towards creating a legacy that will be remembered and discussed forever.

What is it about our "SELF-IMAGE"?

For a few days now I have been reading a book which persuaded me to be back to blogging after a break of more than 18 months. 18 months!!!!! It’s long time that has gone unnoticed and flown away like the sand falling down from closed fists. It seems it took no more than 18 days for these 18 months to pass. Well, coming back to the point that I want to emphasize here; what is it about our self image? I seriously never gave a realistic thought to it, but now I sincerely understand and feel that our growth or for that matter our downfall is the outcome of how we perceive the self-image of ours.

Imagine you are playing a game of Cricket and it’s you who is going to decide your fate for that game. Before we even play the shot we visualize what’s going to happen. We visualize missing the shot and failing to tear it apart across the boundary line. We play the shot and end up missing it. Our mind thinks in advance and we complete the thought. But why do we think so negative? Maybe because we are intimidated of the opponent’s game, stature, pressure or maybe because of less confidence that we have on our own. I would go for the last reason. That’s the reason Sehwag has succeeded. His mind is so uncluttered. He gives a damn to who the bowler is. He has said it hundreds of times that it’s the ball that matters and not the bowler. He has immense confidence on himself because he has created a positive self-image of his own.

Why do we always compare ourselves with peers, friends, society? Why do we feel “I wish I could be as good as him/her”; Why? God has never been partial. If your friend, peer is better off in one specific skill or aspect why don’t we understand and derive confidence from the fact that we would definitely be better in some other skill, aspect. In fact, the very fact that s/he is better than us in one skill, aspect should motivate us to work even harder and improve ourselves to such a level where we could introspect and conclude that “Yes, I have improved compared to the last time, I have now become a much better person”. Instead, we end up cribbing. That’s because we don’t see ourselves as potent enough to better ourselves. We have created a very poor self-image of ourselves. We are just adding negativity to our inner being. With all these negativities (from every individual) coming together we are just viciously multiplying the negativity in world.

The solution to this I think is setting a benchmark where we would be competing with our self and not anyone else. Let’s stop cribbing and enjoying the life, let’s start to have a positive outlook towards the life, let’s build a healthy self-image,.

Have you ever noticed that when anyone gives a call or for that matter speaks with you in person and says “Hey, you were outstanding at doing it”. How do you feel? You start feeling “Wow!!!!” That adds up to your confidence levels and you start feeling healthier (inner being). So to all those people who would read this post I would request you to pick up your cell or walk down to one of your peers, friends, colleagues and appreciate him/her for that one thing that he/she is better at. Let’s at least help them build a healthy self-image. Sometime, someday later he/she might reciprocate something similar to you and this will help us create a virtuous (multiplying positively) cycle of “healthy self-images”.

My First Guest Lecture!!!!!!

It gives me immense delight to write down the following stuff. As we rewind back 3 years from today that is in the year 2006 I never imagined of whatever, wherever I am today. The fire was there but it was just as lost as I was. What to do, how to do, when to do, I had no clue. My career took a radical shift once I joined Indira, Pune for MBA in Marketing. Those two years are the best phase of my life where I learnt the actual meaning of my existence, I found, I understood, I learnt my limitations and strengths and I worked harder than ever. All the hard work of those two years has paid off. I received a call from my college. They wanted me to deliver a guest lecture to the new batch that joined recently in the month of July. I took some time to think and then I called them back and gave an affirmative answer. 10 hours is what it took for me to create the presentation for this batch. I decided to speak on the importance of personality traits to succeed in MBA and hence in life. A batch of 240 students was supposed to attend the session in two slots of 120 each. I doubted my capabilities of speaking for 3 hours as told by the management to me. However, to my surprise I actually had to cut short few topics and managed to finish it off in 3.5 hours. It was an awesome experience to be on the other side of the class for the first time in my life. I thought this would be the first and also the last time for me to deliver a lecture to students. However, with the response that I got from students I understood that I had done a decent job and I am sure I would be doing this stuff again, and again, and again…..