Constructive Failures..

Remembering my old boss who always used to remind us on the importance of making mistakes in professional life. He always used to add - "But, don’t make the same mistake again and again, rather make new mistakes every day".

How can a mistake be constructive? How can a failure be the best performance booster? There are many literatures available on these topics. All of them summarize the message to take failure and mistakes as a part of the learning process.

When a person is in a learning mode, his/her mistakes are normally ignored by others. This is true for those drivers with 'L' board and for those programmers who are with a designation tag 'Trainee'. Not only their mistakes and failures are tolerated, but at times we encourage them to take risk by experimenting something new in an attempt to motivate them while expecting a failure / mistake.

Now, expand this thought process in a different way. If we look at whole life as a learning process, it is inevitable for an individual to make a mistake some point in time in the process. Some failures are part and parcel of any learning process especially when that process span across months and years. And yes, we say learning is a never ending process; meaning always there is a scope for us to attempt something different and taste a failure or commit a mistake in the process.

A failure becomes constructive when it teaches the person a new lesson. A lesson, that will bring success (Perhaps better success) in near future to him/her if applied correctly. Same goes true for those unintentional mistakes we commit in the process of learning.

This is not just some philosophy, but a simple thought that can change a person's destiny even after repeated failures. After all, everyone has the right to be a winner, if not today - one day.

Don't Quit...

I came across this beautiful poem few years back.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit -
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow –ow
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late
when the night came down
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

(author unknown)

This poem teaches us many lessons. It explains why one should not be discouraged with failure(s) in life. It beautifully establish the fact that success and failure are not far from each other. Every failure gives us an opportunity to learn something new. Such hard learned lessons are difficult to forget and those are the lessons that helps an individual to score better in the next attempt.

It is again about a mindset. A mindset that prompts an individual to look at a failure as an opportunity to learn something new and convert that failure into a constructive experience. People with such mindset will always be positive about their life and will never get discouraged by failures of life.

So, choice is in front of you… think about it.

The Extra Mile..

We talked about the importance of being different with a purpose. This ‘purpose’ normally is the aspiration to be successful in whatever we do at all times. In today’s competitive world, to achieve that sense of satisfaction, many a times we need to go ‘an extra mile’.

By definition, it means performance beyond expectations. There is always a scope for ‘going an extra mile’ both in our professional and personal lives. It is a conscious decision you make to put an extra effort in an attempt to differentiate yourself from the majority who retires from the race once their targets are met. If being different from the crowd is an easy way to get noticed, going an extra mile will definitely help you to emerge as a winner.

The philosophy of ‘extra mile’ is not industry specific or job specific. We live in a world, where doing your job on time with expected quality is not something that ensures applauds or awards, rather it is a basic expectation from any individual. In such a scenario, it is essential for someone to go beyond the basic expectations and deliver something ‘extraordinary’ to be in the limelight. So, gradually this ‘extra mile’ is becoming less of a choice for many of us.

There are some areas where every extra mile you put will definitely pay off in some point or the other. Learning (knowledge acquisition) is an example. You have an option to learn what is been taught or what is required for a given situation, but if you put extra efforts to go an extra mile by acquiring some additional lessons, you will find them very useful in future and those additional lessons might also become your best differentiator.

In any case, going an extra mile calls for some sacrifices in terms of time, energy, leisure and so on. So, it is important for an individual to do a comparison between those sacrifice(s) he or she is making and what he/she achieves by going that extra mile. Results will vary from individual to individual. But, this comparison will eventually prove in the long run whether it makes sense for that individual to take ‘the extra mile’ path.

Remember, it is not about 1 extra mile or 2 extra miles. No matter which level of success you are in, there is always ‘another extra mile’ in front of you. So, it is all about a mindset with a clear focus on continual improvement and better success.

If you believe in ‘the extra mile’ principle this question will always be echoing in your mind –

‘What more can I do today?’

Being Different with a Purpose.

We all are different from one another. We are different in appearance, character, skill sets, attitude etc. These differences provide scope of improvement for every individual. If every one of us were born with same abilities to deliver what is expected out of us in a given scenario, there is no competition and hence chances of improvement would have been limited for each individual. In that perspective, these differences attributes a lot in an individual’s strive for continued success.

However, how many of us are really different from others in our thinking patterns? While it is easy to bring noticeable difference in appearance and even in behavior, it is bit difficult to take a different route in the way you think. Only a very few people were able to do it in their lives and those are the ones who have created history by achieving tremendous amount of success in their field, be it science or literature.

There are 6.7 Billion people live in this world today. According to available statistics the total number of human beings ever lived in this world is approximately 100 to 115 Billion and the actual figures may be marginally different. Now an interesting question – How many of this 100+ Billion people are known to us today?

Some individuals from this 100+ Billion are very familiar names to us. Though they don’t live with us today, we feel their presence through the results of their great work in different areas. Shakespeare still lives with us through his classics. Archimedes, Nicolaus Copernicus, Marie Curie, Isaac Newton and many others through their inventions, Mother Theresa still lives in the hearts of thousands for whom she is an angel sent from heaven. But, what is the percentage of such people who thought differently; acted differently and contributed in a big way to the world at large?

We realize the percentage of such people is very small. In fact, we can safely conclude such people who lived in this world with an objective to bring a positive difference are less than 1% (almost zero percentage), because we are counting hundreds or thousands against 100+ Billion.  Still, because of the efforts of those very few people we live in a better world today. We have electricity, connectivity, airplanes, and better living standards. Now, imagine if we had at least 1% of such people in this world, no doubt this world would have been a far better place to live.

We all have these choices in front of us every day. Either to live a life which is very ordinary, where situations and environment decides the direction OR to live a life that is different by virtue of the positive difference it brings to our environment, people around and to self. While first option is the ‘default’ in most cases, later comes with a need to have conscious efforts and very much individual driven. In most cases these extra efforts are rewarded with great achievements.

If this is the need for being different, next question is how can someone be different? That calls for adding an individual’s own vision to every action he/she is undertaking. This vision needs to be very much individualistic and it is like going an ‘extra mile’ in everything we do.

Let’s talk about this ‘extra mile’ later.

A New Beginning

It’s a new beginning.

Every beginning is a courageous attempt to make a difference. All long journeys start with a first step and I am here making the first step. Thanks to all those good hearts who contributed by sharing ideas and dreams over the years.

It’s not only about My Dreams and My Life, but also about those scattered thoughts which collectively instilled a different vision during those younger days. A vision that taught a different approach to be successful knowing there is no shortcut to success. Journey has been a very long one, different places and different people. But there were no shortage for people who were in search of directions, in search of ideas and those are the ones who gave ample opportunities to touch their lives by helping them to build their own dreams.

Path to the ‘extra mile’ has been difficult. Pushing someone towards ‘the extra mile’ was even more difficult. Still, this is another attempt with an end objective to make ‘someone more comfortable and happy’ and yes, it is a beginning with end in mind!

Remember that good old saying ‘Deep Relationships are not built by forcing you to understand me, but by giving you the confidence that I have understood you’.

Welcome to this world of deep relationships where we are together to achieve more dreams and more successes!