Be Fluid - Flexible is too rigid

Two anecdotes, same message:

One evening, two young monks (let's call them Sohan and Mohan ) under the tutelage of a great sage, living in a Gurukul and bound by rules like complete celibacy (including not touching the women, talking to them or seeing them) were walking near a river when they heard a cry for help.

They saw that a woman was drowning. Sohan looked in the other direction and kept walking. Mohan jumped into the river, saved the woman and carried her on his shoulders. He dropped her at a doctor’s clinic ensuring that she was fine and her life will be saved.

Sohan was watching this in astonishment but kept quiet and they reached their Ashram. After their daily prayers and dinner Mohan went to sleep but Sohan remained awake. He just couldn’t sleep…

Next day, they went through their routine like every day but there was an awkward uneasiness. In the evening when they were walking again, Sohan said abruptly “I will tell Guruji”. Mohan was surprised at this sudden utterance and asked “What will you tell?” Sohan replied “You carried a woman on your shoulder yesterday”.

Now Mohan understood the reason behind Sohan’s awkward behavior and said “When I heard the cry, all I saw was that someone was drowning. Whether it was a man or woman, never occurred to me. And my dear friend, I dropped the woman yesterday but you are still carrying her on your shoulder.”

Train of life:

This is from my all time favorite movie “Main Azaad Hoon”. There is a scene where the protagonist tells audience a story. It goes like:

Some passengers were travelling in a train. One of them was carrying his baggage on his head. One fellow passenger asked “Brother, the whole train is empty. Why don’t you keep your baggage on the baggage rack or the floor?” The guy replied “It is my baggage, if I don’t carry it then who will”…

Audience laughs and the protagonist gives the moral of the story “We all are passengers in the train called life. Life offers us comfort and space but still we carry the baggage. It is high time that we let go of the baggage and travel light”….

Once we have done the first stage of Rubaru™: The Realization, we move to the second – Prioritization. And to prioritize, we need to first get rid of the baggage.

Rock iT™ Mantra: In your own Rock iT™ journey, be the engine and not a bogie...

The “Dodo” syndrome..

The dodo was a flightless bird that lived in the island of Mauritius. The species lost the ability to fly because on Mauritius food was abundant and mammalian predators were absent. The dodo was first mentioned by Dutch sailors in 1598. By 1681, all dodos had been killed by hungry sailors or their domesticated animals. Since it had lost its capability to fly, it could not escape when it was attacked.

Now Sample this:

A young kid goes to a public phone booth and dials a number. When the recipient of the call (A shop owner) answers the phone, the conversation goes something like:

Boy: Hi, I have heard that you need a helper at your shop. I would like to offer my services.

Shop Keeper: Sorry, that’s wrong information. I already have a helper.

Boy: Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, how much are you paying him and how many hours does he work?

Shop Keeper: I pay him INR 200 per day and he works 8 hours on my shop. He gets one day weekly off.

Boy: Sir, I will work for INR 150 per day. Will work 10 hours at the shop and also help you in your household work. I don’t need a weekly off.

Shop Keeper:  Thanks for the offer, young man but I am very happy with my current helper and won’t want to replace him.

The phone booth owner was hearing this. He says to the boy “If you can do all that for INR 150 per day, please join me from today.”

Boy: Thanks for the offer Sir. I am the helper the person was talking about. I was only checking how I was doing at my job.

Rock iT™ Mantra ( Worth a repeat) : It is said that a lion stops and looks around after every five steps. The poor Dodo didn’t do that. Any surprises that Dodo went extinct and a lion not only survives but rules...

Have we met and seen individuals and companies suffering from Dodo Syndrome. What happened to SGI or SUN or Kodak or currently happening to Nokia or RIM?

I have observed and worked closely with some companies who realized very fast that they ought to change gears regularly. Young, 5- 7 year old companies who built business upto a certain level on one strength but quickly anticipated the winds of change and adjusted their lines of business accordingly. They are now building complementing lines of businesses based on other strengths that they had or built. And they are growing much faster than before.

I know some brilliant individuals who got very comfortable in their cushy jobs and leveraged heavily to buy expensive cars, second house, third house, a holiday home and when suddenly they were out of job, they didn't know what hit them.

I also know some average individuals who did their Realization ( Rubaru™ ) well and became so nimble that they grew faster and higher than what their capabilities and circumstances would have otherwise allowed them. In the process, they built more capabilities and scaled even higher platforms.

The world is changing very fast. There is disruption all around. The evolution cycles have shortened and one doesn't have the luxury to sit on one’s past laurels for long.

Start with your  Rubaru™  now and create your desired outcome when you finish one round of the  Rock iT™  journey.

Live the journey...

Whether you are an individual, a family or an organization, whether the journey that you want to start is private or professional ; the first step, Realization (Rubaru™) is the most critical step of the journey and that’s why I want to talk a bit more about it. Some of it may be repetition but as they say:

Rock iT™ Mantra:  Repetition is also a key to communication.

So, here we go:

My life is not a race. It is a journey, my own unique journey. Agreed that there are millions parallel journeys happening around me and sometimes the paths collide with others but that still doesn’t make it a race. In my journey, I won’t change my chosen destination just because a fellow traveler has done that.

I am not here to live someone else’s life. I will define what I am, what is my SWOT, what is it that I want to do and what I don’t want to do, what gives me happiness, joy and peace etc. I may not end up succeeding in everything that I realize. Sometimes I will succeed 100%, sometimes 10%. 

But I will always know what I was trying to do because I am doing everything consciously.  Circumstances will be against at times but I will not become a prisoner of them. Too many people are doing something and wishing that they were doing something else. I will define my direction. I will try to be the best me....

Once Gautam Buddha was talking to a disciple when a fly came and rested on Buddha's cheek. Still deeply engaged  in the talk, subconsciously his hand went to his cheek and the hand waved the fly off.  Later, Buddha realized what he had done and he was aghast. He once again (and this time consciously) touched his cheek with his hand and virtually waved off the fly. The disciple got confused and asked him why he did what he did? Buddha's answer was “I practice and preach consciousness and when first time my hand waved off that fly, it was subconscious. If my hand can wave off a fly subconsciously, someday it could kill someone subconsciously too. That’s why I consciously waved off the virtual fly again. To nullify my subconscious action”.

Epitome of Realization !!!

Many of us will find this example difficult to digest but I am sure we get the idea that I am trying to put across. Millions on this earth end up living a life they don't identify with , influenced by family, friends, peer pressure, media, film stars, sport stars, internet, social media and don’t even know it. There is so much noise out there. How can I shut my mind from the distracting noise and live my life as per what I define ?

Rock iT™ Mantra: It is said that a lion stops and looks around after every five steps. You know why?

In Rock iT™ journey, after R ( Realization) there are five steps that take you to desired goal (We will talk about them in following posts) and then you do Rubaru™  again…

Yes.... That's me!!!

There are millions of people more successful than I am - More money, better professional achievements, better health, better career, better looks..... They can be and many of them already are role models for millions others.

But just because someone else is big doesn't mean I am small, just because someone else is more successful  doesn't mean that I am a failure.

I am here on this earth to live only my life. If I try to be like someone else, who will be like me? If I am not me, who will I be?

There is only one me on this earth and I will define what I want to do, where I want go.... I will define  my own parameters for judging self.

Sometimes looking at super successful people, reading their biographies, the odds they fought to create enormous organizations and richer lives fills one with great optimism and expectations but at times these stories appear as fairy tales and one gets disillusioned too...

R of  Rock iT™ :  This is where Realization becomes very critical. I am a product of my times, my circumstances, my background, my education, my thought process and my perspectives. Delving deep into it and coming up with your own questions and your answers to those questions is that first step on which the entire journey depends. 

Rubaru™  ( face to face with self) is the first step that builds this journey....

Rock iT™ Mantra : “When you start a journey, you ought to know where you are, where you want to go and what is the route you want to take but at a time you can progress only as much as your car headlight shows you.”

Take control, do Rubaru™, build your own dreams and goals, choose a route and start the journey....