Exploring Possibilities: It's All In The Mind And All About The Mindset!
We all know that whenever we talk or write about any subject or topic, we need to answer 3 basic questions. Questions of why? what? and how?
Earlier I have discussed as to why we should have a positive mind-set, today I am going to discuss four important points to understand as to what we should do to have a positive mind-set.
1. Accept Challenging Tasks…
My son is a badminton player and is into professional sports and being a father to a sportsperson, I have seen a few things very closely. One observation is that, most (not all) kids in India, take up professional sports to get a government job from the sports quota. They actually do succeed, and end up getting a job as a clerk in some government organization. On other hand a few exceptions like Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, K Shrikant go to sports with a firm intention to play and win a gold medal in Olympics.
Quite a challenging task. They represent the country and may not necessarily win the gold medal, but in the pursuit they win national titles, become players of international repute. When it comes to a government job, they don’t get a job, they are offered a job.
That’s the difference here, and the position offered is obviously of a good rank. So always take up challenging tasks, that stretch your faculties and pull you out of your comfort zones. We should tune our minds in a way that we remain firm in every situation.
Be it a day when it’s raining cats & dogs, or a day where its freezing cold outside – you shall not give up and you should not let external factors bring you down.
2. You will never get perfect conditions...
The truth of the matter is that for the rest of your life you will never ever have perfect conditions. The challenges will be high, the people around may or may not be cooperative, the stakeholders may be difficult, the competitors may be aggressive or the market may be simply down.
Trying to be defensive or hiding behind these situations will just give you excuses to not rise and shine. Instead it is important to make the most of every situation, analyse it and use it to your advantage by converting it into an opportunity. When you have to leave the house you never wait for all the traffic signals in the route to be green. You leave the house. So don’t wait for the perfect conditions, make them.
3. Different situations, different solutions….
If you have a look at your palm. Just like no two fingers of your hand are the same; likewise, no two situations or are the same. Every situation or moment will be different with distinct reference and context. The difference in your adversary could be in terms of past contexts, history, preferences, size, knowledge etc… Therefore, in life there is nothing as ‘one size fits all.’ It is extremely important to be versatile and agile enough to adapt smoothly to every new situation in order to get through a situation. As Sadhguru says, we have to be sensible to life- not to our thoughts, emotions, ideologies or belief systems.
4. Dejection and rejection is an inherent part of life.
There was a girl, who happened to be a daughter of a spiritual guru. She was excellent in her studies. She always used to come first in her class. She continued the same from her 1st standard. When she was in 5th standard, she again stood 1st in her class. As always, she ran to her father to show her report card. Father after seeing the card smiled and asked, why did you stand first? She was shell shocked. Rather than appreciating, father is asking a strange question. To clear the confusion and bewilderment father told her, it is definitely commendable and you indeed are a very hard working girl. Always remember that great results are not the only measure of your ability.
The sincerity, your hard work and your understanding of your subjects are your true achievements. Also life will not necessarily allow you to stand first always. Even if you happen to stand second or fail, it’s alright as you have given your best. Hence one learns how to handle failure. Accept your success with humility and failure with courage.
This message is not a license to justify failure, one should do his/her best to reach where you want to. Still due to certain factors which are beyond our control, we might fail. Don’t be unhappy. Accept them as a stepping stone to your success. Be a warrior. For a warrior scars are like medals on his personality, which enhance his beauty. Be positive and keep exploring possibilities….All the best!
(The author is a Certified Designed Thinking Master practitioner and Clifton Certified Strength Finder Coach, Corporate Trainer and a Leadership coach)