Goals and Me

The other day I read in a book of Consumer Behaviour "Humans form a substitute Goal when they fail to achieve their primary goal and if they continously fail to achieve their desired primay goal then the substitute Goal takes the status of their primary goal and becomes a primary goal itself."

And if you ask me, I have experienced this behaviour since I was a child.

As a kid I was shy and wished to do what my friends did. But in order to do so I needed right set of perfect circumstances. Unfortunately or Fortunately, things did not happen the way I wished them to be. While my friends had an automatic compass box, I settled down with a normal one, while other friends went to hill stations with their families in vacations, I used to be at home getting bored, while my friends in school used to throw birthday party (parents organize it) at amusement parks or hotels every year, I used to celebrate my birthday once in 3-4 years by calling my friends at home. So, at every stage of Life, there had been a compromise on my primary goal, however small that goal may be. This led me to believe in the fact that I need to adjust and have expectations as per my potential & capacity.

As I grew up, I wished to become a Heart Surgeon and in pursuit of that dream I slogged, studied day in and day out but unfortunately when the moment came, I just had marks but no money due to circumstances around. Again a Goal was compromised and in hope of better tomorrow, I took up engineering as I had no other option in front of me then. This Goal compromise was a major setback in my life and it impacted my life at engineering too.

But then I realized that somethings thats gone cant be brought back and in regret of that I keep worrying on it, it will just make my life worst from worse. So, then deep within me an awakening took place which made me form a (Substitute) Goal; of being the best in what I do in Engineering. Knowing that what Goal Failure means, always helped me to get back my lost focus, lost concentration and lost energy in order to achieve the new goal that I set for myself. I never looked back since then on my academics. But again, Engineering ke bhi kuch apne hi funde hote hai, academics toh thik hai but to be unique from the crowd, U need to do something extra and that something extra was an opportunity with CSI and being a part of it. With the help of lovely friends, that happened too and gave my life a new meaning.

During the same time, a new Goal was born, I may call it a primary one in relation to my new life, to be an MBA from one of the IIMs. I did all that I could do to be there but I failed, took up a job to support a living and tried again, failed again. As pressures form environment increased, I succumbed to it and compromised on that primary Goal. This time the compromise was a less harsh as I had been a failure in 50% of it and that was no admit to IIMs, while I still managed to go to a B-School. Though I have no regrets for being in WE School, but an experience in IIMs would have been different altogether.

22nd September 2008, a new (Substitute) goal was born, to be recruited by A C Nielsen Bases. And again knowing what a failure means; my belief, my focus, my concentration and all my actions strengthened towards achieving that. And as life may have it in store, 14th October 2009, they came for campus recruitment, 28th October 2009 they interviewed me and 14th November 2009, I hear the news that I have achieved it. It was a dream come true experience.

Now, if I look at my life, I always failed to achieve my primary goals while the failures led me to achieve my substitute goals. And this has led me to think that what will happen to my next primary goal to become an Entrepreneur? Will it die like my other primary goals or will it be achieved? Will Life again decide what I should get or Will I be the one dictating terms this time?

I have these questions in mind but having gone through so much in last 20 years or so, I have realised one thing for sure that If I think it will happen, it will surely happen. So, today am erasing those questions from my mind by completely forgetting primary - substitute goal relationship in my life and focus all my efforts towards achieving my next primary goal of being an Entrepreneur.

It will now not depend on how life takes me, it will be other way round this time. I can & I will. Lets see !!!

Cool

I think thats cool...

Don't work, its all fun...

I read on a cover page of a book "I never did a day's work in my life, it was all fun" - Edison

Well, that quote definitely pushed me to think what it meant and this quote is so relevant today. I mean we all live in a fast paced life, work round the clock and still end up missing deadlines and miss our targets.

But while on the other hand we observe certain people who are right on time to complete all things on time and reach their targets. Why does that happen? The answer is in the quote.

We don't miss deadlines because we are not experts or skilled to do the work we are assigned, we all have the capabilities to do whatever is assigned to us (that is the reason its assigned to us), but what gets us into the trouble is our own lack of interest in that work. We tend to treat it as work and psychologically we start associating it to stress. For all of us, we have started taking that work means stress and meeting deadlines. But that is not the case, it means fun, learning and a sense of accomplishment that comes out of that work. And if we observe further, the people who win and actually meet deadlines are the ones that treat the work as it should be. I mean for them, the primary goal is fun, learning and a sense of accomplishment while the other materialistic result is a by-product by itself. Its like "Chase the excellence, success will follow" and for them Excellence is fun, learning and a sense of accomplishment.

We see many people who are at wrong places and at wrong times but then i can bet that if these people make this attitude change towards work, they will be the right people at the right time and in the right place. Struggle is a part and parcel of our life, take it as a step to success then to consider it as a hurdle.

So, as per me, what all of us should do is, to love the work we do. I know there are times where the work may not be as fun as the other things we do, but then the challenge lies in making that work also an exciting one as other things. As we all know "Winners don't do different things, they do things differently" and that makes them winners.

I have observed that this phenomenon works and believe me friends, when this works there is nothing stopping you to achieve what you want.

Friends, we all are at that phase of our where our entire life depends on what actions we take now and if we misunderstand or misinterpret it, we are royally screwed up. Remember one thing, don't think this decision of your life as just another thing that has come up with a deadline, treat it as the decision which you will take now to enjoy rest of your life. Treat it as the work that you will do now whose results will benefit you for all your life.

So, no need to work friends, its all fun....

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

The last book i read "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" and believe me i was bowled over by the book not because of the way in which the stories are presented in the book but because of the stories themselves. Though all guys mentioned in the book had an IIM-A tag but then not everyone at IIMs becomes an entrepreneur. It definitely required all what it takes to be where they all are right now.

Initially, when i read few stories, i said to myself that these students from IIM-A have contacts, have relevant exposure as they get that kind of opportunities, so i did not think it is as a big deal for them to become an entrepreneur. But, i pondered over my conclusion and thought to read it all over again without any bias. And then was the time i realised that having contacts, having exposure is all fine, everyone at IIMs get it but the thing that these ppl set them apart from rest were all those intangible qualitites that human cultivates within as he grows, we may call it passion, dedication, determination etc, etc. I mean all these qualities will not be taught by anyone in the world, it has to be self-cultivated, self-driven.

So, this led me to think that if being passionate and being self-motivated is not driven by any institutional input, then even me a non-IIM-B-school student can have it. Even you who are reading this blog can have it. Anyone can have it. I do not say that the exposure and opportunities are not important, they are of help but they cant be determining factors for success. In fact with intangible qualities, an average person can get that relevant experience needed without being into IIMs. There are chances that an IIM Graduate can fail in life while a mediocre or an average B-School graduate can be a sucessful person in life.

So, i believe that all those intangibles required to make it to the top are within us and only we can search it and make use of it to the fullest. And when i look at the book cover again, i do not now relate it stories of 25 IIM-A grads but i relate it to them as stories of passionate individuals. Because that hunger did not come since they studied at IIM-A, that hunger was because of their passion for what they wanted to do and they transformed their wants into their needs through determination, dedication, sacrifice, hard-work etc. and thats what made them foolish.

So, i say to all budding entrepreneurs: We all will make it one day just keep that hunger alive within us, keep building up our plan ahead, work on it, implement it in right attitude and with right frame of mind and we shall also be one of those success stories.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish !!!