The Pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The Optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.
It’s not important whether you were knocked down.
What is important is ‘Did you get up?’
The greatest courage is to bear defeat without losing
heart.
You need a heart to dream and a mind to set new
goals. Your age has nothing to do with it.
You will have a strong Destiny if you follow the
three Ds religiously in whatever you do- Discipline, Dedication, and
Determination.
Life does not fail you. You fail life by not
responding to the continuous opportunities that it offers to you.
If you imagine yourself as a Failure, you are bound
to fail. But if you start with success in mind, you might achieve it or not but
you will have a successful journey in pursuit of your Goal.
You might have failed in the past but it has no power
to stop you from achieving success in the future. Only you have to decide and begin
your every day with new vigour, determination and more resilience to achieve your
goal.
Every problem in your life is an opportunity for
you to build a new and better life, be it relationship, health, work or
business.
Remember, at some stage in your life you will face hard times. Hard time will make you humble, grateful, respectful for money and time, value friendship, fight your own battle and endure pain. It is the process to make you ready to embrace success and happiness.
It’s not an easy task! When you are doing something routine day in and day out, it gets mundane after some point of time and you lose interest. So, how do we keep ourselves motivated in doing the daily routine work? Some tips for you:-
Try exploring something new every time you perform the routine task. If you look around you will definitely find something innovative to implement or workaround. Even some basic restructuring will help you to retain novelty in your daily routine; like rescheduling the time, breaking the job into multiple sessions, if possible involve others or just review if what you are doing is the easiest way of doing that thing!
Can you be more creative? Creativity will add enthusiasm and also motivation. Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive your daily work in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions.
Find out means and ways to improve the way you are performing the routine task. How you do that? See what are the time-consuming activities in your daily schedule and if there is a scope of reducing the time factor to complete the tasks. Also, how much efforts you are putting and if improvements can be incorporated to reduce the efforts as well. This should be an ongoing and continuous process. Find out opportunities if you can do multitasking and are comfortable doing the same. You need to be critical about yourself and need to challenge your status quo every now and then, then only you will be able to implement improvements.
Interlink your daily routine with some other activities of your interest. This is important. Like listening to your favourite music while doing household work or listening to some good podcast while traveling to/from work or reading something useful while traveling to/from work.
Share your little achievements with family and friends. We all look for encouragement and appreciation. Ensure you celebrate your every little success and achievement with your family and friends. This will keep your motivation level high and would make you want to achieve more. Also, it will create a sense of self-worth. This way you will enjoy your routine work!
Bring in new ideas into your daily work. Use technology where ever you can. This is different from ‘make improvements’. New ideas would mean- what new you can add or what can be removed from your routine work so that your routine work is more meaningful and productive. De-clutter your daily work routine with all that is unnecessary. Use technology to your advantage and not to your distraction.
Take timely breaks. Breaks help us to rejuvenate ourselves and to charge up our energy levels. It also relaxes us from stress.
Pursue your hobbies while performing your daily routine work. Always pursue at least one hobby that you enjoy doing. So, ensure that you engage yourself on a regular basis with this hobby as it will take your mind off from your daily work routine and would make you more cheerful and active.
Keep smiling, crack jokes and have a hearty laugh whenever possible! Do I need to add anything here! Yes, this is a simple activity but many of us rarely do it! Life is a gift, you have to steal moments from its grueling pressures and struggles to make yourself happy. Laugh whenever you can and laugh heartily. Become silly for some time during the day and enjoy the fun that you will create around yourself! Be childlike…they are the best teachers to teach you how to laugh and have fun without needing any reason!
I was sitting in my living
room with my little son playing near the window. Suddenly, he pointed towards
the sky and said ‘Daddy, look two birds flying.’ I looked through the window
and saw nothing in the sky. I smiled at him and said nothing thinking he must
be playing a joke with me. A couple of days later on an early evening, he again
pointed towards the sky and said ‘Daddy, look birds flying in the sky.’ I
looked again through the window into the sky and saw nothing. I was slightly curious;
is he watching too much of those animated cartoon serials on TV? Is he
imagining beyond his age? I again looked at him and smiled. My smile conveyed
my acknowledgement to what he was saying but deep inside I said ‘Son, don’t
play smart with me!’
A few days later I visited
my doctor for a routine check-up and he suggested that I should get my eyes
checked from an eye specialist. I did as per the advice and was suggested
glasses by the eye doctor. I got my glasses and could feel the difference in my
vision.
One fine day when I was at
home, my son again pointed out of the window and said ‘Daddy, look birds flying
in a row!’
I looked out of the window
with my glasses and saw a fleet of birds flying forming a particular pattern. I
was filled with guilt! I realised all this while my son was speaking the truth
which only I was not able to see. Rather I got judgemental about him…on his
intention and on his behaviour. It taught me an important lesson that day; never be too quick on judging others!
When an event takes place
in our life, we interpret it in our own way and then form an impression or
opinion about the person related to that event. But often that interpretation
is coloured by our own beliefs and prejudices. And it is also a fact that often
that interpretation is mired with negative thoughts. Our first reaction is
somehow to blame others or to find fault in others.
Some examples from our day
to day life; often we feel insulted or take an offence just because- how
someone looked at us, how someone turned his or her face while we were looking
at them, someone did not respond to our messages or calls or for that matter my
friend did not wish me on my birthday and so on…we immediately jump to a
conclusion about how bad or evil the other person is towards us. Without giving
it any thought, we just brandish that person in poor light. In the hindsight,
did you ever consider how many times you behaved in a similar fashion? Did your
intention was to offend or insult the other person?
I believe the best way to
be non-judgemental is to give the benefit of the doubt to the other person. We
need to change our thought process and believe the nobility of the other
person. Or if someone has behaved badly with us then there must have been some
compelling reasons for that person to display such unusual behaviour. Remember,
each one of us is struggling in life with our jobs, responsibilities, family
pressure, and desire to have more and more wealth and materialistic possessions
and other unfulfilled desires. It only tends to generate more frustrations and
as a result, erupt out in the form of undesired behaviour. What then? As I said
earlier, we need to give the benefit of doubt to the other person! And also
show some empathy. So, the next time someone zig-zag past you on a busy road
when you are driving with absolute perfection, just don’t yell and get into a
road rage! That person might be having an emergency to reach out to his or her
destination. Leave it at that…
Talking of the corporate
world, I have seen many times we become too judgemental about a person based on
his behaviour rather than talking about his performance. And then we judge his
performance based on his behaviour. Is that fair on our part? We fail to
distinguish between the person and his performance. Somehow the personality
overtakes the performance of an individual. In my own experience, I have seen
some of the sharpest minds in my team struggling to or having issues in
becoming a team player (which is an important requirement in operations). But
their individual contribution has been supreme. We can’t be judgemental on such
people but should rather be empathic in utilising their talent wisely. And the
judgement has to be in the right perspective. A famous quote by Albert Einstein
sums it up very judiciously; ‘Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish
by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it
is stupid.’
On a side note, these days
I am practising to be in the ‘forgiving’
mode most of the time! In this mode, I try to forgive all those people who were
not so kind to me in terms of their action or behaviour. Believe me, it has
helped me a lot in clearing away a lot of clutter in my mind. My mind is no
more occupied with all the unwanted angst and toxic thoughts which used to
impact my thinking and behaviour in a negative way. I have succeeded to a great
extent in this ‘forgive’ mode and now feel much more free and light. The fact
of the matter is that now my mind is occupied with more positivity and
constructive thoughts. It would be a good idea if the HR of the organisations
carries out these periodic sessions/workshops on psychological behaviour for
their employees which I am sure will help not only in enhancing the
productivity of the individual employee but would also generate a vibrant and
positive work culture in the organisation.
So, the crux of the matter
then is that it will be good for us if we don’t jump our guns too quickly and judge
others especially when our perspective of life is blurred with anger, jealousy,
negativity and unfulfilled desires. Actually, what we see and judge in others
depends on the clarity of our (mind’s) eyes or glasses through which we look at
others. Ensure that your eyesight is in good condition and your glasses are
clean.
Lastly, when you judge
someone, it does not define who they are rather it defines who YOU are! So,
next time when you are judging someone be kosher!
I was lying in the
hospital bed. I just heard the doctor whisper to my wife ‘In the next 24 to 36
hrs.…nothing can be done now. It’s over!’ I raised my eyes and saw the
expressionless face of my wife and son. Gosh! I am to die in the next 24 to 36
hrs. Isn’t it too early for me? Why so soon? My God! So many things I have to
do which are still incomplete or not touched at all. I need at least some more
time…God, what are you doing to me? Why are you doing this? I was talking to myself
with tears rolling down both my cheeks. I’ll be leaving this planet in the next
few hours…will not be able to see my wife and son and my dear friends again…ah!
It’s so painful! I felt sad, very sad. It was not the fear of death but the
sadness that engulfed me because so many of my wishes were still unfulfilled.
Suddenly, I hear a loud sound of the divine conch blowing in my ears. Oh God!,
the Yamraj (the God of death as per Hindu mythology) has already arrived! Has
he come too early? The doctor has given me 24 to 36 hrs…why has he come now? I
hear the loud sound of the divine conch again in my ears and this time I get up
on my bed. Sweating on my forehead I look around and see my wife sleeping
peacefully next to me. I further look around and find out that I am in my
bedroom. Oh, what a frightening dream! But it leads to a thought process in my
mind…
These days it is raining
heavily in Mumbai restricting people to venture out. Unless one has to go to the
office or for other important work, people prefer to remain inside their cozy
home just lazing around. As I sat at my study table looking outside the window,
I could see rain showering down with full intensity. Mumbai has witnessed a
good rainy season this year. Enjoying the rains from my room, I decide to get
some hot coffee for myself. Once back at my table with the coffee mug, I pulled
out my journal from the bookshelf. I keep this journal to record my thoughts
and ideas and visit it periodically. Sipping my coffee I turn over the pages and
see my long term life goals page. I see a lot of scribbles on this page where the
goals had been modified, added and ticked off which were achieved. One thing
appears very apparent on this page; my top two goals are still intact i.e. not
achieved so far. These two were my biggest and all-time life goals set with
high priority when I had jotted them down a long time ago. Years have passed but
they still remain unachieved. I did achieve other goals to a great extent along
with adding new ones but my top two goals remain intact. No action taken till
now. Why? Because these two are my big life goals and I am just waiting to
finish some of my other goals before I find the right time and other means to
work on these two top goals. How foolish I have been! I should have been
working on these two goals from the beginning which were my life goals so that
by now a good amount of progress could have been made by me. But I was waiting
all this while to finish some other things before I could start working on
these goals. Did I waste my precious time? Is there enough time left to achieve
these two goals which are my life goals?
Actually, these two un-complete
ones are not goals; they are/were my dreams. These were the dreams that I had
woven while growing up. And somehow they just remain a dream for me till now.
Why? Because I have taken it for granted that I am here on this planet for
eternity and will work on these later! How stupid!
Actually, we take it for
granted that we have unlimited time at our disposal and we will take action on our
dreams some fine day when the right time comes. That time will never arrive!
And neither do we have unlimited time. Rather we have very limited time. In
fact, we are not even sure how much time?! It can be just a tomorrow or maybe just
the next moment! Who knows?
If you are still in
slumber then please wake up! Get up and take stock of your goals and dreams. Block
your time for the next two/five/ten years against all the unfinished tasks that
you have listed as your life goals or dreams. Make them happen NOW. Don’t procrastinate. This is the
time and the only time you have. If you don’t do it now you will never be able
to do it again. Remember, time flies like an Arrow, you will never know when it
flies away.
I have started work on my
long time pending goals now and I am slowly inching towards achieving them.
Yes, I have given myself a deadline too…
Life is like that. That one
fine day never comes. One has to make it happen. Slow and steady progress need
to be made each day so as to have the compounding effect later on. It’s like one
cannot live unhappily day in and day out hoping that one fine day some magic
will happen and then he or she will become happy. No, it will never happen that
way. You have to work for it to make it happen. And I would suggest, please
make it happen right now. As I said earlier, we all have limited time at our
disposal.
Do you know what renowned
author Paulo Coelho has said in this context? He quotes “One day you will
wake up and there won’t be any more time left to do the things you’ve always
wanted to do. Do it now.” How true!
So, if you want to learn a
musical instrument, get into any sports, learn singing, open a restaurant or a coffee
shop, visit a particular place of interest, enroll in the course of your
interest, write that long-pending novel or book …please do it NOW. Work hard and leave no stone
unturned until you achieve your dream. And always remember, no defeat is final
until you stop trying!
I have almost finished my
coffee now. I look out of the window and see that the rains have stopped for
time being. But still, it is wet and misty all around. I decide to go for a
quick walk down the road and come back to work on my pending goals. Yes, I have
limited time and I need to achieve my goals soon. You too work on your dreams
and ensure that you achieve them sooner!
“At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”
“One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.”
“Life has a way of testing a person’s will, either by letting nothing happen at all or by letting everything happen at once.”
“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
“Do something instead of killing time because time is killing you.”
“Sometimes, we are so attached to our way of life that we turn down wonderful opportunities simply because we don’t know what to do with it.”
“When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.”
“Close some doors today, Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because they lead you nowhere.”
“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”
“Don’t explain. Your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you.”
“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.”
“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”
“Life really is generous to those who pursue their destiny.”
“Our true friends are those who are with us when the good things happen. They cheer us on and are pleased by our triumphs. False friends only appear at difficult times, with their sad, supportive faces, when, in fact, our suffering is serving to console them for their miserable lives.”
“When I had nothing more to lose, I was given everything. When I ceased to be who I am, I found myself. When I experienced humiliation and yet kept on walking, I understood that I was free to choose my destiny.”
