OUT OF THE BOX

Joginder Singh, IPS (Retd.)

Former Director, CBI

Winning at the place of your working and your work is a choice. But one thing for success, which is vital is, that we should be willing to change and give another try, even if we fail, in our first attempt. A universal truth is that when you find work you love and devote yourself to it, the success is certain. For success, it is essential to work to a purpose and to plan for it. Many people, especially self employed or retired, find themselves at the end of the tether. They do not know what to do immediately. For this we need to plan as to what we want to do, not only today, but also for the next day, next week and next month. If our living conditions are not ideal, then it is for us to spot the difference, make changes and improve our life's quality.

We have to accept total responsibility for our present circumstances and continuously strive to make things better, for a higher quality of life. Nobody else is responsible for any setbacks, you may face, in your life. We must keep our perspective and not waste time on the trivial and insignificant. Be crystal clear in your vision and what you really want. Clear visions lead to clear options and alternatives. Add profuse passion to whatever you are doing.

Do not waste time, on annoyances or complaints about your colleagues or bosses. Instead of wasting time on looking around or listening to the inane tapes or music, spend the time on commuting, on reading or doing chores like telephoning for your work. The objective of telephoning should not be to gossip, but utilise every minute, in focussing on the things, which matter to you. At the time of writing this piece, I am being driven to my house in Delhi from the airport. I am doing the writing, while the driver is focussing on his job.

Remember that it is out of our choice, that we have taken up certain jobs. Nobody has compelled us to do the same. Instead we should look up on our jobs or assignments, as a good fortune, considering that millions are jobless in our country.

Maintain a sense of equilibrium and balance about your work and your life. Our mind can be our best friend, or our worst enemy. If we focus, on the positive things and good fortune in our lives, then we can make this life a heaven on earth. But if we go on focussing on the negative, we fill our mind with misery, misfortune and adversity. There is no such thing, as an absolute reality. We see the world, through our mind's eyes. We see the world, not as it is, but as we perceive it to be. Instead of wishing for fewer problems, we should wish for greater wisdom and greater strength . We must be like students, learning all the time. Rather than hoping that life will get easier, why not focus on working harder and smarter. In these changing times, only those win most, who learn most. Irrespective of the position, you have reached, convert yourself into a lifelong student. There is always a scope for learning more, about your field or your work or your industry, or anything else, you might be engaged in. For this, you have to read more. This is how you become an expert and a person of great value, who will convert anything he touches, into success.

Everybody admires champions and winners. All prizes, whether in sports, or industry, or Bollywood or Hollywood , only go to the top performers. It is a truth, that many times, as in sports, you win or lose by a fraction of a second. There is a complete similarity between sports and the game of life, though the game of life has more than six billion players on the earth. But all of us, at all times, play games, though they might be different, in our respective callings and professions. There is however, a great difference between the game of sports and game of life. While in sports only a limited number may win gold, silver or bronze medal, in life, there is a chance, for each one of us, to win a gold medal, by excelling in whatever we are to do or are doing. You can win a gold medal, in the game of life, by being prepared, by having a sense of purpose, by knowing your competitors. You may not achieve success immediately and may experience failure. But you should learn to treat failure as an interval between successes. Unless you have a clearly formulated, personal responsibility and mission statement, which should embrace your vision, values, virtues, passions and what life means to you, you would not be able to make much headway. Maintain the same level of persistence and drive that a five year old has, who never gives up, till he or she has got, what he or she wants from his parents. Says Ralph Waldo Emerson; “To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs.”

For achieving a big goal, you also need to have a bigger plan for the same. Your ambitions and goals need to be backed up with a plan. Otherwise, the goal or goals, remain only hopes and you can wish till eternity and keep on running in circles without achieving anything. Invest your time in planning, before you spend it on implementation. It can save you hours of heart breaks and regrets. The more detailed a plan, the better chance it has of becoming an actuality.

Never give up on your dreams despite all problems, troubles and difficulties. Never let your dreams become a casuality under the guise of a so called reality, as it will aggravate a self defeatist attitude. Giving up quickly in the face of first obstacle and hardships is the easiest but not the best course if you want to forge ahead.

Our dreams are killed, more often, on the basis of a past unpleasant experience, which we take as a gospel truth and a yard stick. The result is that we feel that if we have failed once in the past, we would fail again. One way to tackle this problem is to keep the past, and especially failures in a separate compartment, and not use the same, to remind ourselves, that what we are attempting is beyond our capacity or we will fail in accomplishing our objective or objectives.

Rarely does anybody become a film star in his first attempt, in the Bollywood. If those, who are at the top (names not deliberately mentioned) and earn crores of rupees had believed that their past was the measuring stick, they would not have reached where they are. Look at anyone you believe, who is flourishing and booming, and you would find that he or they had put their past failures behind. Having a short memory on failures is the best way to overcome the same.