Well, this is exactly what I was wondering when I started to pen
this article. I had to take a few weeks off from writing as I moved to a new place and was busy getting used to the vicinity. Of course, I did make a lot of memories and will write about them soon.
The door is open, get out, you will
make memories. Stay inside, you will read about them.
In my younger days, I had no limit
to my imagination. I lived in a limitless world. Dreams had no boundaries and I never cared about the opposite views which
the world had. I lost my school elections twice but it never deterred me from
contesting again. Maybe, I would have contested again if I had lost the third time too but I won. Winning
was the only thought in my head and nothing else.
If the same failures had happened now. Over the first time, I would have been upset. Second time, I would have felt embarrassed and would have
not even thought of third time. The main difference I found in either of the
cases was I never gave a damn about the world in the first case and was more
concerned about others than myself in the second case.
The innocence in us remains forever. It is not that we have innocence when we were kids and it fades out as
we grow up. Kids don’t let the innocence to be
affected by the external world. As we grow up, this innocence is controlled by
the external world. We slowly start doing what others want and less of what we like during this ‘grow up’ phase. It can be stated that we have started living this life for the sake of others and not us.
Parents decide what course to be taken in college, girl friend decides
what to be eaten and finally we end up regretting their choices.
These questions bog me down every
now and then.
Don’t I have a life and isn’t it me
who should be calling the shots?
Instead of trying to impress others,
why not impress myself?
Instead of trying to make others lives awesome, why not try to make my own awesome?
There was just one answer I could
come up with for all the above questions.
The answer is SATISFACTION.
We do everything for our
satisfaction or for the satisfaction of others. I feel this is the purpose of our life. In this
quest of satisfaction, we take up different routes (Good, bad and
both) and end up getting satisfied by our endeavors or regret the choices we
made.
In this journey of self
righteousness, A incident enlightened me to look at life from a different
perspective, a better perspective.
I met this gentleman a couple of
years ago. It was during my first business trip. He was a operator in one of
the production departments in a manufacturing plant. It started as a normal
conversation and initially I had a few apprehensions talking to him. A few
thoughts were running in my head like he’s just a operator, why is that I have
started a conversation with him. There’s no use talking to him, I will learn
nothing and it’s a waste of time.
As the conversation grew,
these thoughts left me and I learnt the most important lesson of my life. He
started working at the age of 20 and has been doing the same job over 2
decades. I told him that I would have been bored within two months and what was
that which kept him motivated all the time. He showed no emotion on his face as
if it was his daily routine to answer this question. He asked me to take a wild
guess.
I came up with a lot of random
answers like good pay, working in his hometown, a good boss, friendly
colleagues, Employee benefits, high morale etc. He asked me to stop giving text
book answers.
I did shut up. I asked the same
question to myself. Well, I couldn’t even think of that question as I was sure
I wouldn’t do the same job for 2 months, forget 2 decades. I gave up and
requested him to answer.
He smiled, I thought he had lost his
mind.
“The biggest motivation of my life
is Myself”
Was he kidding. No, he wasn’t.
I can never forget this
conversation.
Curiosity took over. How can you be the motivation factor for yourself.
He laughed this time.
It was his turn to ask me questions
What is your goal?
I want to become an Entrepreneur.
Why?
Good question. Well, It gives me
satisfaction.
Then he gave a very valid
explanation.
This work gives me satisfaction and
I was never bored in the last twenty years. I always try to find a better way
of doing my process. Every small improvement gives me immense satisfaction.
Many people like you laugh at me and go but it never had an impact on me. I
understand that you don’t want to work for more than two
months on the same process but it doesn’t mean that you cannot work on it.
Suppose you change your process and start
working. Will it be again for only two months?
Isn’t it important for you to like
your work rather than criticize it. The common notion is to hate the job
we do and we have a hundred reasons to hate it and not even a single reason to
like it. Then, will there be any job in the world which will satisfy you?
For a moment, I thought I was
listening to one of the motivational lectures in college. Every word was true
and it was from the most unexpected person.
Yes, this is the story which changed
the way I look at things. Satisfaction is something which can be obtained
within and leaves a long lasting effect on us. We get satisfaction when we impress
others but it doesn’t last forever. Had he changed his job based on what others
think, maybe he wouldn’t have been what he’s today and maybe, I wouldn’t have
found someone to inspire me for good. I met him at the right time and thankful
to him for showing the right direction.
After this incident, whatever work I
do, I do it with dignity and find self satisfaction in it.
Thank you, Sir.
And Happy New Year Friends :-)
