Find your secret ingredients

Recently I was asked to write a motivating article for the office newsletter. This is a version of the same.

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” – Harold Whitman

It’s important to regularly analyze your skill-set and hone and nurture your talent.   I remember a story in which a class was enacting the play of Cinderella and kid was asked what his part was in it. 

He replied “ I am the pig. ” 

“ But,” the teacher said,  “there are no pigs in this story”.

“Well, there is one now” was his prompt reply. And so there was a pig who followed Cinderella throughout the play, enacted her unsaid thoughts and stole everyone’s hearts! The forest has many animals each with their own unique role. Be a cheetah, elephant, deer or ant but be the best that you can be.  Figure out your role in the larger story:

• Find out what is uniquely you and make the most of it. 

• Enhance and update your skills regularly. Read blogs/literature/ attend workshops/do online courses but constantly keep upgrading yourself in the direction of your skillset. 

• Consolidate this knowledge further by documentation and sharing. 

• Find out what part of your work you enjoy and find most satisfying. These are your unique strengths. 

• Think about how you can offer that role in the best possible way to the company.

• Give that little extra of yourself to that part of the role. If it is development, spare some time for small PoCs, if it is ideation, make sure you communicate your ideas where they can make a difference,if it is communication, get more involved in client communication. If it is documentation, code review, testing, start by taking up multiple such roles for your team. 

• Start small and slowly expand. You could start by aiming for adding value towards your chosen domain maybe 10% more than the rest of  your work and slowly evolve this.

• It’s also ok or actually necessary, to take a peek in other horizons.

• It’s ok to change your area of interest/skillset. Don’t worry if it seems different or too new. Sometimes, that’s how we grow.

• Lastly, never forget to take pride in who you are, what you do and what you stand for. Never underestimate any individual and that starts with self!

Postscript: book quotes

It's uncanny how one finds the right book at the right time. This book comes with food for thought at a time of introspection. Here are some interesting quotes and phrases from it:

1. We don't always remember how we met but we often remember how we parted

2. After digging, toiling in the darkness and dirt, we finally hit something concrete. I learned that rock bottom can actually be a springboard.

3....possessions that became objects as soon as they were dropped into the bag...

4. We all have something that unexpectedly derails us when we are motoring smoothly, blissfully, ardently.

5. Perhaps it is not death that angers or scares us, it's the fact that we have no control over it.

6. There is no end to the loss we can experience, but neither is there to the knowledge  and growth that arises because of it and in spite of it.

7. Just because I've had my share of problems, I cannot become a fixer

8. Love is a tenuous, rarefied thing. Something to be prized and cherished  displayed for all to see, not hidden away in a cupboard, or to feel ashamed of.

9. Life has roots and just like a tree in its quest for survival, those roots spread and stretch to find water, they possess the power to lift foundations , uproot anything in its path their reach is endless; their presence has an everlasting  effect on some form or  another. You can cut the tree down but you cannot kill what it started and all the life that sprung from it.

10. Death is a constant companion with us , watching us from the sidelines.

11. The more the world dislocates, the more we come together. 

Everything that breaks around us, glues us together even tighter, because no matter  how chaotic, everyone has to find their hiding place. Our hiding place is each other. 

12. Hating goodbyes is not a justification for staying.

13. And fearing goodbyes is not a justification for leaving first.

14. Death rips people apart but it also has a way of stitching together those left behind together.

15. There's always one more thing to say ( at the cover page)

Routine is underrated

Recently I yet again realized the value of routine. Sometimes it takes a shaking of the world around you to make you realize this.
There is a quote in a song...
"Khoke apne per hi toh usne tha udna seekha"
Translation: Only on losing its wings did it (the bird) learn to fly.

We so often lose sight of our blessings while striving ahead. There is so much restlessness in today's age to do more, strive more and greater perfection in everything. A holiday or occasion should be picture perfect and full of exotica. Meals should be well plattered. Kids should learn, no master tonnes of activities and get no less than 99.999%, hobbies should be monetizeable. If you are happy at home or at work, you are in "comfort zone". Go go go, do something extra. Do something more. And then share. First we amass goods and then we go into a declutter frenzy.
And keep moving in the race. The race to do more but feel less. The race that literally leads to a "dead" end while the present becomes a blurry frenzy. In some ways the ride in this rollcoaster is still fun. But why not open our eyes and see and enjoy the journey? Because there is no destination. The journey is all we really have.

The evening cup of tea with family, watching sillyreruns, holding hands, bingeing on fav food items, playing with kids as one of them, reading till 4am because you can't put the book down, long talks with friends, walking under the stars, the strong sunshine, a warm bubble bath, coloring in bliss, exploring  a new place (country state or even the cafe nearby), swinging freely. That's life. And it's beautiful. Complete as it is. Requires no more to make it "more".

Of course this definition varies for each one of us and even with each of us at different intervals of time. But what's important is to know what brings you peace and joy. And holding onto it in the midst of the race while we can. It's as important to pause or reduce the speed at times as it is to keep going. Take a stock of your journey and direction. Enjoy the mundane for it is one of the biggest blessings of life.