These six words are the most deceptive ones that each of us need to watch out for and be cautious about, for can there be such a situation. It makes me wonder and ponder the sense of satisfaction we get on hearing those words.
If as children, that satisfied our appetite of listening to a story of struggle, pain, and exploitation, that reached a logical conclusion of victory over evil. Representing Good was a personality or a group of people, with a hero who were anointed as the winners. The Evil obviously was the one portrayed as a Loser, with most endings portraying total elimination, annihilation or abject surrender. To surmise was this great line of …and they lived happily ever after!
A beggar on the road with tattered clothes and a frail frame was begging from home to home, presenting a sales pitch of `I have not had food for xx days, I am hungry, please feed me, and the almighty will bless you.’ Out of total sympathy, you fall for this and decide to feed the beggar, as this gives you the satisfaction of having done some good, and the beggar having satisfied the immediate need of eliminating hunger. So the beggar was the winner, for he got what he wanted; and you too were the winner for you gave what you had – maybe in excess or decided to share.
That sense of satisfaction leads you to a world of illusion that this point forward, the beggar shall live happily ever after, for you satisfied the hunger pangs. The journey actually begins, for both parties to savour the moment and get on with life. But you like to pause at that moment and loathe over it, while the beggar gets on with life and delivers his sales pitch of `I have not had food for xx days, I am hungry, please feed me, and the almighty will bless you.’.
As a child you yearned for something desperately, and pitched your desire in appropriate ways, shouting, crying, exhorting, protesting, till you reached your goal of attaining that object. Having achieved the state of desire, you again tend to loathe over it, without realizing that you have to get on with life. If it was permission for an occasion, you had to live up to it, if it was an object of desire, you had to learn to cope with it. This continues across various stages of life -- be it teenage, adult, mature adult, parent, grand parent. You tend to follow this pattern.
What is the beginning of a journey is often confused at the destination itself and that gives you a good orientation of being misdirected, moving in a haphazard manner, in search of a destination, when you think you have already arrived.
Where am I, Where do I want to be and How do I get there, are the three questions that you need to be asking yourselves, for should you ever not want to introspect on these questions at any time in life, you start living the illusions of being a `winner’, and you are bound to fall.
But the person who displays a sense of awareness has no qualms about accepting that he is a person in search of newer destinations and never wants to rest in the quest of exploration is the perceived loser. For such a person, setbacks don’t matter, for they perceive it as challenges and for them reaching the final destination, without getting distracted by the so called illusory pleasures, does!
The choice is yours – loathe the moment and feel as the winner, because you can say ... and you lived happily ever after, or get on with life, for you have many more things to achieve!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Hare or Tortoise – whose side are you on!
One of the earliest proverbs that stuck to your mind – slow and steady wins the race, and the story illustrates how the swift hare loses a race to a slow and stead tortoise, because the hare tends to be complacent. This story is perhaps the best illustration of the title – do we get overwhelmed by `hares’ and bored of tortoises for their respective styles. I wonder, in in modern times, what odds the bookies would have offered to those wanting to bet on the tortoise!
Just on this story alone there have been innumerous sequels – like fast and furious win, rendering this tale to be irrelevant. The example often quoted was the initial success of dotcom boom that ushered in a whole new term thus dividing business into New Economy and Old Economy. Ring out the Old, Ring in the new – and everyone followed the Hare, till the tortoise caught up and today people trust not just an idea, but an idea supported with logic and long term success, thus lending this tale relevant all over again.
Nations with history and tradition that got left behind in the industrialization age are suddenly witnessing an upsurge and demands for their ancient practice, systems and treatments. Yoga, Ayurveda, Meditation are three simple examples from India. West is moving towards vegetarianism, while the East is moving towards the other end.
In another sequel of the Hare and the Tortoise, the also race involved crossing a pond, and the story has it that the two decided to co-operate and take the race together. On land the Hare took the tortoise on its back, while in the water, the tortoise took the hare on its back and completed the race faster. Another concept of Interdependence, Co-opetition (competitive co-operation) illustrated beautifully.
Our interpretation of Hare and Tortoise in the modern times draws a parallel to Wealth and Knowledge respectively. Those who dream of acquiring wealth may succeed, their progress may be swift, and get perceived as winners. They are bound to get complacent like the hare and get caught in the wheels of time. Those seeking knowledge are able to do so and have a steady rise in their careers, and equip themselves to face tomorrow with agility.
Thank god that world is now referring to the current age as Knowledge Economy (Wealth). We are lucky to be living in exciting times, but should one try to give a cold shoulder to knowledge, then you are bound to witness a society of cosmetic winners, who will end up as bad losers, while those who pursue knowledge as core will emerge as winners in the long run. Patience, Perseverance pays!
If your learning is for knowledge sake, then earning will automatically follow, but if you are learning for earning sake, then you need to re-look your learning.
Just on this story alone there have been innumerous sequels – like fast and furious win, rendering this tale to be irrelevant. The example often quoted was the initial success of dotcom boom that ushered in a whole new term thus dividing business into New Economy and Old Economy. Ring out the Old, Ring in the new – and everyone followed the Hare, till the tortoise caught up and today people trust not just an idea, but an idea supported with logic and long term success, thus lending this tale relevant all over again.
Nations with history and tradition that got left behind in the industrialization age are suddenly witnessing an upsurge and demands for their ancient practice, systems and treatments. Yoga, Ayurveda, Meditation are three simple examples from India. West is moving towards vegetarianism, while the East is moving towards the other end.
In another sequel of the Hare and the Tortoise, the also race involved crossing a pond, and the story has it that the two decided to co-operate and take the race together. On land the Hare took the tortoise on its back, while in the water, the tortoise took the hare on its back and completed the race faster. Another concept of Interdependence, Co-opetition (competitive co-operation) illustrated beautifully.
Our interpretation of Hare and Tortoise in the modern times draws a parallel to Wealth and Knowledge respectively. Those who dream of acquiring wealth may succeed, their progress may be swift, and get perceived as winners. They are bound to get complacent like the hare and get caught in the wheels of time. Those seeking knowledge are able to do so and have a steady rise in their careers, and equip themselves to face tomorrow with agility.
Thank god that world is now referring to the current age as Knowledge Economy (Wealth). We are lucky to be living in exciting times, but should one try to give a cold shoulder to knowledge, then you are bound to witness a society of cosmetic winners, who will end up as bad losers, while those who pursue knowledge as core will emerge as winners in the long run. Patience, Perseverance pays!
If your learning is for knowledge sake, then earning will automatically follow, but if you are learning for earning sake, then you need to re-look your learning.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Aspiration to Ambition to Actualization
Each of us have aspired to be something, kept that as a focus, and hence an ambition to achieve that aspiration. In the end, some achieve what they aspired for, thus fulfilling their ambition, and make it a reality (actualization), while for some it tends to be a dream and stays like that. Call it adapting to the emerging circumstances, or settling down for something that they did not want to pursue.
A potter, cobbler, goldsmith, priest, scientist, doctor, engineer, lawyer, accountant, etc, feel great on having achieved some amount of name, fame and glory in their respective professions, but never consider themselves complete until they have successfully convinced the child to pursue their profession. They feel it is like some tangible property that they will be able to transfer to their ward, thus providing a head start over the others. The intention is noble and appreciable as long as the ward wants to pursue your desire.
How many of us have really pursued what we aspired for, and really set out achieving that in a conscious manner? Some of us have had the guts to stand up to it and clearly flow against the current, and follow your passion, by being proactive about what you have wanted to pursue, while a lot of us decided to flow with the current and submit ourselves to the emerging scheme of things by being reactive.
What was relevant yesterday, may not have stood the test of time, and hence would have given way to emerging career opportunities. Just a brief look at possibilities would illustrate the perceptions of the generation gap.
After traditional education, obviously the plum professions that most have wanted to follow were Medical Doctor and Engineer, followed by Chartered Accountants, Lawyers. These are like goldmark of careers, and those who are able to pursue such careers are perceived to be “winners” in life, whatever be their interest.
Business was the domain of the rich, and hence was decided more by legacy and inheritance, rather than ability and choice. So whatever the shape of the peg, it has been forefully fitted into whatever kind of hole that existed. If one was lucky, then square peg went into a square hole, or a round peg into a round hole, otherwise think of the other possibility, and that is where one witnesses the Aspiration to Ambition to Actualization process.
As children, perhaps the first few toys shape our aspirations – like most of us want to be a driver, because we have a car or a bus as a toy, and some aspire to be pilots because they get fascinated by toy plane. Some want to be a doctor, because they like the doctors set and love to flaunt the plastic stethoscope in their ears, and wield the toy injection syringe. We get shaped by the environment. Family background plays a great role in influencing a persons ambitions, but a big gap arises when one gets to achieving the state of actualization.
Times are changing, as newer choices emerge, and it becomes important to keep pace with change. If people are allowed to follow their passion, each one of us would have felt some meaning to our lives. But then most of us have been foisted with a choice as an ambition and force fitted as actualization. Yet when it is our turn, you too get into the process of foisting someone’s aspiration with your desire or vision.
We tend to decide someone's choice of profession, but in the bargain, are we professional in our approach. Whaere's the decision coming from? The Head or the Heart!
A potter, cobbler, goldsmith, priest, scientist, doctor, engineer, lawyer, accountant, etc, feel great on having achieved some amount of name, fame and glory in their respective professions, but never consider themselves complete until they have successfully convinced the child to pursue their profession. They feel it is like some tangible property that they will be able to transfer to their ward, thus providing a head start over the others. The intention is noble and appreciable as long as the ward wants to pursue your desire.
How many of us have really pursued what we aspired for, and really set out achieving that in a conscious manner? Some of us have had the guts to stand up to it and clearly flow against the current, and follow your passion, by being proactive about what you have wanted to pursue, while a lot of us decided to flow with the current and submit ourselves to the emerging scheme of things by being reactive.
What was relevant yesterday, may not have stood the test of time, and hence would have given way to emerging career opportunities. Just a brief look at possibilities would illustrate the perceptions of the generation gap.
After traditional education, obviously the plum professions that most have wanted to follow were Medical Doctor and Engineer, followed by Chartered Accountants, Lawyers. These are like goldmark of careers, and those who are able to pursue such careers are perceived to be “winners” in life, whatever be their interest.
Business was the domain of the rich, and hence was decided more by legacy and inheritance, rather than ability and choice. So whatever the shape of the peg, it has been forefully fitted into whatever kind of hole that existed. If one was lucky, then square peg went into a square hole, or a round peg into a round hole, otherwise think of the other possibility, and that is where one witnesses the Aspiration to Ambition to Actualization process.
As children, perhaps the first few toys shape our aspirations – like most of us want to be a driver, because we have a car or a bus as a toy, and some aspire to be pilots because they get fascinated by toy plane. Some want to be a doctor, because they like the doctors set and love to flaunt the plastic stethoscope in their ears, and wield the toy injection syringe. We get shaped by the environment. Family background plays a great role in influencing a persons ambitions, but a big gap arises when one gets to achieving the state of actualization.
Times are changing, as newer choices emerge, and it becomes important to keep pace with change. If people are allowed to follow their passion, each one of us would have felt some meaning to our lives. But then most of us have been foisted with a choice as an ambition and force fitted as actualization. Yet when it is our turn, you too get into the process of foisting someone’s aspiration with your desire or vision.
We tend to decide someone's choice of profession, but in the bargain, are we professional in our approach. Whaere's the decision coming from? The Head or the Heart!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Learn-Unlearn-Relearn
Life they say is all about learning, and Learning they say is an experience, and experience they say makes a man perfect. So if you are always learning and continue to keep learning, then you have to achieve a state where life becomes perfect. Is that Utopian state possible? Most of us consider that learning is only during our school and college days, and once we are out of that place, you would like to claim that you are learned, because you have a certificate.
Alvin Toffler’s famous quote, “The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn” But how many of you are willing to first get into a state of unlearning, and then look at a state of relearning. Too complicated – for how can one be a student all your life.
Whatever we learn in School, College and as Academic courses are set courses – like a linear game – where you have a starting point and on completing a set of parameters move forward and out of the system like an assembly line product. But what we learn to adapt in real life is the knowledge coupled with temperament on the basis of dynamic situations we encounter. These in itself provide us with fresher set of learnings that we have to incorporate to emerge better, but we get into such situations with a “Been there, Done that” attitude (winner). Call it – complacency, over-confidence, and some times fall on our belly, or try coming out of the situation justifying your actions as right.
We refuse to unlearn or relearn and continue in that same state of `know all’, that you eventually join the big gang of losers. Needless to say, we are going to repeat the statement that Learning is continuous, but the form it comes to you is different. Academic setting dictated Lectures, and workshops, but life may not be so.
Learning comes disguised in many forms – it is for you to recognize the form and realize the methods of imbibing those learning and apply them. There are innumerable examples of enterprising business men, who dropped out of school or had poor grades, but excel in their business. They are considered as practical and pragmatic. Those successful in academic days (toppers) tend struggle in real life, for their approach is seen as bookish and hence away from reality.
The emphasis is on being a learner, be it at any stage of life – for the pursuit of knowledge and experience leads you to pragmatism, out compromised Utopian Life , instead of perfect Life. Everyone desires a better quality of life, less pressure, more sense of self-worth.
When we are going through a period of transition, which we all are most of the time, those who are at the forefront are those who are using their learning capability. You have the capabilities. They are inherent in human nature. It’s time to get on with changing our world so that everyone can enjoy their time at work, and free themselves up to have enough energy and time to enjoy the rest of their lives “learning” as well.
Losers – stop day dreaming, and get on with life, for you too are going to be a winner. As for the winners, welcome to the world of Losers – for your complacency and over confidence will get you there and then together we can day dream of achieving UTOPIA!
Alvin Toffler’s famous quote, “The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn” But how many of you are willing to first get into a state of unlearning, and then look at a state of relearning. Too complicated – for how can one be a student all your life.
Whatever we learn in School, College and as Academic courses are set courses – like a linear game – where you have a starting point and on completing a set of parameters move forward and out of the system like an assembly line product. But what we learn to adapt in real life is the knowledge coupled with temperament on the basis of dynamic situations we encounter. These in itself provide us with fresher set of learnings that we have to incorporate to emerge better, but we get into such situations with a “Been there, Done that” attitude (winner). Call it – complacency, over-confidence, and some times fall on our belly, or try coming out of the situation justifying your actions as right.
We refuse to unlearn or relearn and continue in that same state of `know all’, that you eventually join the big gang of losers. Needless to say, we are going to repeat the statement that Learning is continuous, but the form it comes to you is different. Academic setting dictated Lectures, and workshops, but life may not be so.
Learning comes disguised in many forms – it is for you to recognize the form and realize the methods of imbibing those learning and apply them. There are innumerable examples of enterprising business men, who dropped out of school or had poor grades, but excel in their business. They are considered as practical and pragmatic. Those successful in academic days (toppers) tend struggle in real life, for their approach is seen as bookish and hence away from reality.
The emphasis is on being a learner, be it at any stage of life – for the pursuit of knowledge and experience leads you to pragmatism, out compromised Utopian Life , instead of perfect Life. Everyone desires a better quality of life, less pressure, more sense of self-worth.
When we are going through a period of transition, which we all are most of the time, those who are at the forefront are those who are using their learning capability. You have the capabilities. They are inherent in human nature. It’s time to get on with changing our world so that everyone can enjoy their time at work, and free themselves up to have enough energy and time to enjoy the rest of their lives “learning” as well.
Losers – stop day dreaming, and get on with life, for you too are going to be a winner. As for the winners, welcome to the world of Losers – for your complacency and over confidence will get you there and then together we can day dream of achieving UTOPIA!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Why Chronicles? Why Loser? Why Chronicles of a Loser!
This post comes after a near 100 days break on the blog, or facebook or twitter. This break made me introspect as to what was it that I had set out to do and what was I really doing, was it in keeping with the direction that I was seeking or was I getting lost in the wilderness of not being able to communicate anything. So I basically decided to revisit the title and perhaps dissect it by the meaningful words. (THIS PARA IS NOT A PART OF THE BOOK)
Chronicles is a word that one tends to associate to perhaps movies or publications (newspapers) that try to present to you the evolution of an individual or a subject, event or just developments and analysis of the same. The objective of Chronicles in our title is also the same, where we are trying to arrive at a proposition that we develop a fear psychosis of being a loser and try to pose winners all our lives.
Loser is basically a perennial state in which we all exist, where we are trying to come out of a maze that we get ourselves into naturally, or by design, and are trying to fight our way out of it. Some succeed, some don’t, and hence the classification of winners and losers. Those who succeed start living in Ivory Tower, and start condescendingly looking down upon people who are down (losers), while those (losers) who are aspiring to reach the Ivory Tower, have an aspiration and are working hard towards achieving something. They are not plagued by complacency and adapt faster, rather than adopt a status.
This process of classification continues, and those who reach the Ivory Tower are select few, but there are many amongst those in the ground who start prophesying the demerits of the Ivory Tower, and how they are happy to be where they are.
As Children, we are protected, incubated, given happiness, made to feel winners all the time, so that we develop an illusion of life – Losers! As a Teenager, you want to break free of everything, but it is now that most of the shackles come in terms of disciplining, controlling – all in the name of shaping and guiding, but turning that person into a bigger rebel – Loser. The rebel matures to be an adult, and has many aspirations – but some get caught in the parental pressure of following the tradition, while a select few break free. Some succeed and get complacent and fall again, while those who did not succeed blame life – Losers.
Many aver that Marital Life is a gamble, and how that shapes up is itself a challenge, and again some succeed, while some feel they committed the gravest mistake of their life. Yet one can just pause and crib, as life goes on. Parenthood is another challenge, and some cope up with it, while some just journey through it like a responsibility. As one ages and decides to hang up one’s shoes, there are experiences to share, but no one willing to listen. Towards the old age, others are counting your days faster, while you are still recounting your time.
What an Irony for this one person who came through this roller coaster ride of life, seeing the zenith and nadir, went through the peaks and troughs, maneuvered the ups and downs of life – balancing it like a balance sheet, but be considered a liability towards the end. A true LOSER!
So, while we want to go and read books, join programmes on Self Development, Transformation, Change Management so that we can become winners, it is important to realize that there is nothing to be a Loser, because life challenges us to come out as winners, but not consider yourself as Invincible one!
If you do a self effacing introspection of your life, Classification, Calibrations, Comparisons, Clarifications -- that's what we all end up doing.
Chronicles is a word that one tends to associate to perhaps movies or publications (newspapers) that try to present to you the evolution of an individual or a subject, event or just developments and analysis of the same. The objective of Chronicles in our title is also the same, where we are trying to arrive at a proposition that we develop a fear psychosis of being a loser and try to pose winners all our lives.
Loser is basically a perennial state in which we all exist, where we are trying to come out of a maze that we get ourselves into naturally, or by design, and are trying to fight our way out of it. Some succeed, some don’t, and hence the classification of winners and losers. Those who succeed start living in Ivory Tower, and start condescendingly looking down upon people who are down (losers), while those (losers) who are aspiring to reach the Ivory Tower, have an aspiration and are working hard towards achieving something. They are not plagued by complacency and adapt faster, rather than adopt a status.
This process of classification continues, and those who reach the Ivory Tower are select few, but there are many amongst those in the ground who start prophesying the demerits of the Ivory Tower, and how they are happy to be where they are.
As Children, we are protected, incubated, given happiness, made to feel winners all the time, so that we develop an illusion of life – Losers! As a Teenager, you want to break free of everything, but it is now that most of the shackles come in terms of disciplining, controlling – all in the name of shaping and guiding, but turning that person into a bigger rebel – Loser. The rebel matures to be an adult, and has many aspirations – but some get caught in the parental pressure of following the tradition, while a select few break free. Some succeed and get complacent and fall again, while those who did not succeed blame life – Losers.
Many aver that Marital Life is a gamble, and how that shapes up is itself a challenge, and again some succeed, while some feel they committed the gravest mistake of their life. Yet one can just pause and crib, as life goes on. Parenthood is another challenge, and some cope up with it, while some just journey through it like a responsibility. As one ages and decides to hang up one’s shoes, there are experiences to share, but no one willing to listen. Towards the old age, others are counting your days faster, while you are still recounting your time.
What an Irony for this one person who came through this roller coaster ride of life, seeing the zenith and nadir, went through the peaks and troughs, maneuvered the ups and downs of life – balancing it like a balance sheet, but be considered a liability towards the end. A true LOSER!
So, while we want to go and read books, join programmes on Self Development, Transformation, Change Management so that we can become winners, it is important to realize that there is nothing to be a Loser, because life challenges us to come out as winners, but not consider yourself as Invincible one!
If you do a self effacing introspection of your life, Classification, Calibrations, Comparisons, Clarifications -- that's what we all end up doing.
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