While solving a problem, it is first necessary to define a problem clearly. It seems like a no brainer but we often overlook the obvious. Take, for instance, the problem of growth. What does growth mean to you?
Does growth mean the next designation? More people reporting to you? Increasing your span of control or increasing the scope of your work? Does growth mean your next car? Your next overseas holiday? Another flat perhaps? Your next crore in nett worth?
Many people don’t have any problem identifying with the above yardsticks. For them, I have a question. How much of all the mentioned events can you control completely? At best, these are things you can hope for but not necessarily control. Would you really be happy when you reach your goals?
Is success about having and doing? Or is success about feeling a certain way?
Here is a watchman working at a construction site. Every evening he finishes his day’s chores, has his bath and settles down to have some serious fun with his two year old son. See them playing hide and seek in the construction rubble, the child shrieking in excitement when he’s ‘found’ by his dad. The look of absolute joy on both faces is a sight to behold. A little later, he sits down to a simple home cooked meal with his wife. Sometimes, others join them after dinner. Watch them sitting among the cement bags and bricks, chatting away, laughing and sometimes singing, their voices echoing through the half finished building late into the night. What will be the fate of the child when he grows up? Who knows? But right now, it’s one happy picture.
Here is a typical white collared professional working in a large organization, probably a multi national. He leaves for work typically at about nine in the morning, driving through crazy traffic, works until about six in the evening and drives back home through crazy traffic again, to his apartment in an upmarket locality. He reaches home around seven, grabs a quick cup of coffee or tea and then logs in again to support his client across the globe. He wishes he could spend time with his two year old but he can’t. At best, he can mumble a few monosyllable answers to questions his wife or son ask. He sleeps late and not too well. His life is full of anxiety because he doesn’t know how long he can hold his job. He is neck deep in all kinds of debt…a housing loan, a car loan and a personal loan. In taking these loans, he has already spent his next fifteen years of his salary. I don’t know about his future but his present is not a happy one.
What does it take for us to live in the present? I think it’s definitely necessary to have a vision and a goal. It gives purpose to one’s life. If we take a road trip as a metaphor, one must know the destination one is driving to and the route that one must take to reach the destination. However, once the destination and the route are decided upon, is it not important to enjoy the drive, taking in all the scenery, enjoying the company one is in?