Step up, Do more, Be more!

A few days ago someone wrote an email to me asking for help. I couldn’t say no, simply, because it doesn’t happen very often when people genuinely care about your advice. I felt pleased and promised to meet him at a Coffee Shop. He was there before me and came prepared carrying a laptop and folder having neatly arranged papers. He had a business idea and wanted to discuss that with me. I looked at his plan and it was nowhere close to a business plan. All it had were few hanging ideas without any market research. But on the mail he had mentioned that he had a business plan.

I felt surprised (actually irritated). Why is he wasting my time? I barely know him. I was about to make an excuse and run off from the situation but something held me. He was sincere in his approach. Maybe he doesn’t know what a business plan contains. I decided to brainstorm on his plan. I am no expert but shared whatever knowledge I had.

The underlying question is what motivated me to help him? I won’t lie that I am a selfless person, I am not. The truth is that while speaking to him images of numerous people who have helped me in my life came to my mind. I have been advised and helped by acquaintances at very crucial stages of life.

A few months back, I started my independent practice. The only reason I am continuing is because many people have helped me when they should have given me a boot for my naive behaviour. 1 out of every 10 people has helped and that has made a huge difference.  Ever since, I have become empathic to the plight of beginners and committed to help people whenever feasible. Maybe such acts will reduce the debt I owe. Maybe the people I assist will in turn be kind to somebody else and this ball called help will keep rolling making our society a wonderful place to live.

New ideas drive growth but coming up with new ideas is not an easy task. We know that. By the way, we are not talking this creativity – “Awww, beautiful, how do you make such great slides?”, “Thankssss J, I moved the boxes on the right to the left, that changes the look and feel.” “Brilliant, you always have something new. Let’s go for a coffee, you deserve a break”. Naah

We are interested in drawing a picture on a blank canvass and answering questions such as what to draw? How is it different from other images? And if it is so new and unique, how will people relate to it? Most importantly, how much value does it add to the system?

Now the crucial aspect is to come up with the overall theme, the vague image, or the central idea. To do that you need to recognize and retain 2-3 interesting ideas out of hundreds of random ideas revolving in the head. Generally best of the ideas strike when the body is in motion – running, walking, swimming (all these are lonely sports where one can think). Now, suppose you came up with two thoughts – girls are more responsible than guys; discipline is freedom (only the latter is true ).

That’s it, you have an overall idea. From here on, all the hard work begins. These ideas are just seeds. To produce fruit, you have to grow a plant out of a seed. And how does that happens? Through a lot of effort. You plough the land, water the seeds, remove the weeds, and then wait for the harvest.

Nurturing ideas follows the same process. You have to hold on to the idea and drive your mind to the point of exhaustion – Is there a need? What is the need? What is the solution? Many answers will sound interesting. You will plan/write a great deal to develop the central idea.  You will be happy with your effort and retire in bed. Then you get up in the morning to find out that the last night work doesn’t make sense. That’s normal. Don’t get dishearten or try to make the bad things work. Weeds are weeds, recognise them and remove them. Keep improving – ploughing and watering and weeding out – during the limited time at hand.

Then the hardest part begins – Anticipation. Will you see the harvest? Will your idea work? Only time can tell. The thing that enables a person to experiment with the new in face of uncertainty is confidence. And the price for that level of confidence is a lot of prior hard work, effort.

“Careful with fire,” is good advice we know; “Careful with words,” is ten times doubly so – Will Carleton.

Conversation is the most widely used art. I have listed some extreme characters. All of us possess some degree of each of them. The characters are not meant to resemble anyone, but just to bring forth lessons in an amusing manner.

Yes-Man – He keeps waiting for you to start the conversation. Your every thought is cheered and appreciated. If you will not start a new topic, then he will pick up something from the last conversation and tell you how right you were last time. He can change his own stand to meet your opinion. He doesn’t add much value to your thought but never makes you uncomfortable either. A loyal companion when you need to demonstrate support for your opinions.

Fighter – contradicts whatever you say. His favourite phrase is, “I don’t think so”. In a way, he stands for what he says. He rarely thinks, rather just waits for you to say something and then he contradicts. Don’t underestimate company of such a person. Whenever you want to check your knowledge on the subject, call him up. His arguments can make you think hard.

Hijacker – You start a topic and he will hijack your idea. He will tell you another event bigger in multitudes to anything that you were narrating. He always has more interesting stories and extreme facts. He can slowly dominate the conversation. He helps in improving listening skills. Also gives the lesson how does it feels when you play the role of a mere listener.

Surfer – He never gets in depth of any idea. The moment conversation begins to get any serious, he tries to change the topic. He lives on surface. Facts, figures, important topics of public concern are none of his affairs. He talks much, but says little. He leaves you with his advice, “Don’t think so much”.

Tourist – He has all the time in world. You tell him that you are busy, and he will wait. He never has any agenda, or maybe he losses track of it as he losses track of time. Suddenly, he will stand up as something urgent has struck his mind. He will get ready to rush. Out of courtesy, if you offer him to stay longer and finish that task later, he will agree with you. He will drop the task and enjoy the slow conversation. A great companion for holidays.

Merchant – He trades gossips. He’s most dangerous of all. He will not talk about you or himself, but the third person. He floats information without permission. He helps you in becoming careful in choice of your words because you know that after talking to him your words are bound to be quoted somewhere.

If you can think of any other character, please contribute.