What Will Others Think?

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  :-)