Personal
Reflection
There have been
some situations that have had a formative impact on me. These situations made
me what I am today. I am quite sure there are turning points in everyone’s life
where we feel a change in the thought process or a new outlook to life. I had
to think deep to get some stories out and the timeline when these happened. It is
interesting to note that life’s lessons are usually learned the hard way. Not
only me, but I think most of us have to go through a trying period in order to
learn to survive. By survive I mean to learn to behave and prosper in the
corporate world as well as life in general. Some of us do not have to go
through much struggle but I really had to work my way very hard to get to any
small achievement. I try to teach my kids not to do some of the things that I did
and had to fight my way because they are born in the age of technology and hence
can leverage it to their advantage. The survival of the fittest is still true,
no matter what age you are born in.
The first story
is from the time when I was in high school and had to study hard in order to
get into engineering. That was something I wanted to be but this required a lot
of hard work and persistence due to very high competition. I had the habit of
leaving things to the last minute, even when it came to studies. I would play
around and wait to the point when there was just enough time left for
preparation for the exam. My mother always used to warn me of missing some
important things if I kept doing that and can cost me dearly in the exam. She always
said be consistent and prepare thoroughly and at a constant pace rather than
rushing everything at the last moment. She also said if I did that I would have
plenty of time to revise and make sure the minor details are covered. I became
a mechanical engineer and missed the computer engineering by very little
margin. Had I not left every preparation for the last minute I would have made
it to computer engineering.
The next story
is what my dad always used to teach us. If you want to get the job done, begin
from the top. What this would mean to me at that time was if you are in a situation
trying to deal with people and get a project moving, they will give you run
around. If you just approach their boss or even higher authority that can make
an instant decision, the job will happen much faster and all those people who
gave you run around will be happy to assist you in getting the job done. I always
remembered that but could not understand its full implication till I entered
the work world and struggled in the beginning to get the job done which
involved many other people also. What my dad had taught me, I even apply that
every day in my life at work or whenever things need to be done at a faster
pace than what they are now. Sometimes I stop and brood over some situations as
if I should approach the highest authority that can make a decision. But then I
ended up sticking to this theory and things move fast.
This is the
story that still makes me sick. This was in 1995 and we as friends went out for
drinks and I had just too many to drink. It was not just too many but the
cocktail that drove me absolutely cuckoo. I was not falling on the ground but
struggling to walk. I had a motorcycle that I had to ride home and was in no
position to ride. I went to the bathroom and force vomit myself, then had lemon
juice and sat at the restaurant for one hour with spinning head. This was a
kind of worst lessons learned for me and never ever after that I did that till
today. I sat in the restaurant for three hours trying to sober myself and I remember
it like yesterday. I am not a heavy drinker but that was just too much. Drinking
and driving is a crime, as told by my father and I had that in my mind very
clear. I got a lot sober after having a lot of lemon juice and a lot of other
things. Drive home was much easier but I would have still been categorized as
drunk driving because it was only couple hours after that cocktail.
All the stories I
mentioned have made me what I am today. These stories have made me a batter
person and have affected my behavior in corporate world as well as in my
general life. I guess I am a better person now, especially when it comes to drinking.
I do drink a beer occasionally but no hard liquor. This makes my wife very
proud and happy when at a party she observes people drink too much and I am
always driving my own car home. Happy wife is a happy life.
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