BEYOND THE IMAGINARY FINISHING LINE

 

 From the base of the pyramid to make it to the top, needs extraordinary will power and crazy commitment level. Challenges are much more and only if you are relentless, can you make it big. That is why they are called Achievers. They make it to the top, in spite of, and not because of. Not everybody makes it to the top, and all those who made it, left behind a legacy for posterity. They are people who knew that life’s bounties are beyond the imaginary finishing line.

 One such Achiever visited her Alma Mater after several years. It was a warm sunny afternoon in Chennai, and the breeze was blowing softly, with the sun in all its glory. The school auditorium was reverberating with the chatter of the students, who were waiting for the alumnus of the school to address them. For them, she was yet another speaker, but for the Principal she was a star performer.  Kamini was gently ushered to the stage by the Principal. An introduction was given about Kamini. The Principal looked at Kamini with pride, like a mother who basks in the glory of her child. Little did she know about the story that was about to unfold. Kamini had been asked to share her success story with her juniors. 

 Kamini got up confidently, like a seasoned speaker to address her juniors. She was always a confident girl. She nonchalantly walked towards the podium. The students were quite excited to see their senior and also curious to know all about her. She adjusted the mike and began her sharing. Her eyes scanned the audience and she began with a smile. “Thank you for the warm welcome. It always feels special to be back in my school. I have great memories about my school days, and no matter where I have reached in life, I still cherish the fond memories of my school. The welcome address only spoke about my achievements and that is what everyone knows. But let me tell you all from where I began…

  I belong to a lower middleclass family. My dad had a meagre income. We were five of us in the family, my parents, my grandma, my brother and I. We lived a very ordinary life. More ordinary than many of you can even imagine.” There was hushed silence. The students were entertaining similar thoughts. And it was one of disbelief. Nevertheless, Kamini continued. “I was a topper and was also the school Head girl. Right from my school days the family’s financial difficulty was always at the back of my mind. After completing my schooling with high marks, I joined the most prestigious engineering university in Chennai, Anna University.”

 For everyone, college meant freedom and fun, but not for me. My family was waiting for me to complete my education so that I could contribute to the family’s income. My dad had to take a loan to pay my college fees. I was fully focused on my studies. At an age when youngsters like to go out and have fun, I decided, no outing with friends, no partying, nothing, except studies. Did I feel bad about it? No, in fact, I felt more responsible. I was working part-time in the coaching institute where I used to go for coaching classes when I was in school. I used to correct answer scripts for them during weekends and I used to be paid one thousand five hundred rupees every month, which was a lot of money for the family. I had a second -hand Luna, a powered two-wheeler, in which I used to go to the institute.

 On completing my engineering, I was placed in the best software company in a different city. My take home salary was quite good.  That was when my family actually started living a proper life. But it was not an easy life. It was a new city. I was living alone there, away from my family, but my focus was on improving the financial condition of my family. So, I put up with it.”

  The students were probably taken aback by her commitment to her family. It is very rare to see children, whose heart beats for the family, and who does not mind missing out on all the fun in life. Everyone experiences the rush of adrenalin when in college. Overcoming it and staying focused is no mean feat. She put the family’s needs above her own needs. Kamini continued,” A few years later I was posted in the US. I couldn’t believe that I was in Silicon Valley, which is every youngster’s dream.  After that there was no looking back. I was progressing in my career. In the meanwhile, I had got married too.”

 “In the workplace, nothing else matters, except your capability. There are many people to replace you, so you have to keep reinventing yourself. There is no substitute for hard work. Your aspirations alone will help you to make it big. Don’t expect any sympathy from the world. Everything depends on your competency level, for which you will be hired, or for the lack of it you will be fired. I have been constantly working on my skills and today I have reached a high position in the organization. My annual income runs into crores. I now live in a six-bedroom house which I own. I also drive luxury cars and money is no more a challenge in my life. I built a fairly big house for my parents and they too live in style.”

 Eyebrows were raised on hearing this. Lot of realizations came in all at once……not to squander your life, time is a great resource which has to be well utilized, education makes all the difference, choose your friends, build your confidence, get your priorities right in life, stay focused, put your dreams ahead of everything else, and many more. Students sat mesmerized throughout.

 There was a standing ovation when Kamini concluded her sharing.  Kamini’s life read more than a fiction and the first-hand experience that the students had, made all the difference to their thought process. The Principal had tears in her eyes as she hugged Kamini, who simply stood out as the pride of her school!

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

NSN IS AN EXPERIENCE

 

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school,” said Albert Einstein

 A meeting with three of our alumni was organised, from three different fields, in order to guide the present class twelve students, on the way forward. All three of them fondly recalled their school life. They gave credit to their school and their teachers for where they have reached in life. One of them said that the school insisted on meditation and stressed on values, but he did not understand the value of it then. Today he understands the value and importance of happiness and peace, which we need in life. He reiterated to his juniors on the importance of making the best use of all that the school had to offer.

  Education is all about empowering and equipping students with the knowledge, values, skills and attitudes required in life.  NSN aims to be a Game Changer. It believes in revolutionising education. What is the requirement of the job market is not the only thing we need to analyse, what kind of a world do we need to create, is also very important. School is a microcosm of a society. Students are prepared for a life beyond school. They should not be a misfit in society. Hence horizontal exposure is given to them.

“The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values.”

 Just like how schools provide experiential learning for concepts, how would it be if schooling itself is an experience for the students? These experiences will go a long way in creating them as the man or woman they go on to become.  In NSN, students go through a gamut of experiences. Sitting in Silence, caring for the less fortunate, sharing, celebration of Indian tradition, Gratitude & respect for parents, teachers and all elders, developing a compassionate heart, confidence building exercise, physical literacy, developing a healthy self-image, leadership qualities, integrity, responsible citizenship, and many more.

  “Children are the living messages that we send to a time we will not see.”

Academic brilliance alone cannot assure students a beautiful life. It is much more than that. They need to have holistic growth. A sound value system, a strong character, emotional equanimity, a healthy body, interpersonal relationship, spiritual rootedness are all the requisites of a wholesome life. Some of the them understand the underlying value of receiving an education that transcends the boundaries of a regular education system. Many understand only when they leave school and face life on their own, when life challenges them. The school handbook completes the experience by getting the students to write down their learnings, takeaways, reflections, not forgetting, the gratitude journal.

 “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”

 As educationists, parents, teachers & students, we should stop thinking of education as a “transaction” and start focusing on it as “transformational.” Then a school will not only be a Temple of Learning, but also a Temple of Transformation.

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

I AM UNIQUE

 

I am blessed because life loves me

I am healthy because life loves me

I am fit because life loves me

I am happy because life loves me.

 

Looking into the mirror, I tell this to myself every morning, with a smiling face. And one day I suddenly remembered from where to where this gawky and awkward looking teenager, with thick glasses, unsure and feeling less of herself, lacking in confidence, has travelled in the journey of life. I never thought that I would be an achiever and a leader in life. Someone who can motivate others, and even transform lives! But the journey of discovering my potential was arduous. No support from any corner, poor self-image, and lifting yourself by yourself was no easy task. The number of times I have been humiliated, blamed, mocked at, laughed at, become the butt of ridicule, and much more, was all endured with bitterness and pain.

 

Can any of you relate to this? Sweethearts, I wish to tell you that that your life in the future will bear no semblance to any of this. My life is an example. Nobody will even believe that this was my past. I emerged out of it with aplomb and you will find no trace of it now. The world’s opinion does not affect me. I am accountable only to my conscience. Just believe in yourself. Each one of us is unique. No two people are similar in the world. Who you are is who you think you are. The world’s judgement about you is their problem. I want you to have a positive image about yourself in your mind. Don’t bother about your looks. Beauty is only skin deep. Become a beautiful person.

 

The world may tease you and taunt you for your shortcomings. Tell them (in your mind) “I will prove you wrong.” First, you don’t give up on yourself. Also, don’t try to be like someone else. Each of our fingerprints is unique and so are we. Do not compare yourself with anyone. Each of us is gifted differently. Identify what you are good at and excel in it. Gift yourself a victory, then repeat it, then one more time, and automatically your confidence level will go up. Make your weaknesses your strength. Have unquestionable faith in your abilities. It is a beautiful life. Don’t miss yourself. Tell yourself everyday the following self-affirmation.

 

“In the history of the world

There has been nobody like me.

To the infinite of times to come

There will be nobody like me.

And even today

There is nobody like me.

I am rare, I am unique, I am original

I am a Masterpiece.

I will make it very, very, very BIG in life.”

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

WHEN YOU ARE TOUGH ON YOURSELF, LIFE IS EASY ON YOU

 

“For a man, to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.”

The entire hall was in hushed silence and only the commanding voice of the teacher was heard. He told the entrepreneurs, “Individual good should be a by-product of serving the larger good. It Is, integrating spirituality into your materialistic life.” Tears welled up in my eyes. I choked. When you have a goal that is larger than life, you need to get the being right, which is the toughest task. In spite of the huge Cause that I am representing, where I am responsible for the lives of thousands of students, and the challenges I face, I am ready to touch the lives of billions of students. My Surrender to that infinite intelligence and my faith in the Force above has given me the courage to take up such a daunting task.

 Energy + Intelligent Effort + Faith in the Energy = Humongous Possibilities.

 All said and done, serving a larger Cause calls for a high level of self-discipline and transformation within. I realized that the desire to serve should be backed by the readiness to become who you should be in the chair. I was willing to change everything of myself to be worthy of the chair. It took me a while to acquire all the qualities expected in an educationist. It had very many challenges.  But for my spiritual connect, I wouldn’t be where I am today. He fast forwarded my maturity and helped me to look up to myself. From an agitated mind to an aligned mind, the journey was made seamless. Today I am experiencing holistic abundance along with holistic growth in my life.

 

I have grown into a person who has learnt to make what is necessary, compulsory in life. Be it meditating every day, exercising five days a week, eating health conscious food, accepting what is, is, never getting even with people, being systematic and disciplined, maintaining quality standards in the workplace, etc. I am able to chose what is right over what is easy and convenient. I am able to be tough on myself and so, life is easy on me. Taking up something or dropping something will become easy only if you are uncompromising on your discipline and develop a powerful mind. Take up one at a time.

“If you are easy on yourself, life will be very tough on you.”

  You can overcome your temptations to take the easy route when you have aspiration and goals that are big enough, when you want to gift yourself a better life and when you realize the need to transcend your limitations. You will be able to say no to laziness, procrastination, inconsistency, insincerity, inertia, arguments, gossip, and anything that is a stumbling block to your growth. What is most important should not be at the mercy of what is least important. Learn to prioritize.  Live a life of no compromise.

 

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

BREAKTHROUGHS

                              

“Your breakthrough is on the other side of what you are resisting”

 When the bestselling author, Megha Bajaj, conveyed her desire to feature me in her book, The Breakthrough, along with ten other trailblazers, whom I looked up to, I couldn’t, for a moment believe what I heard. Me, to be featured in a book! There was disbelief, I must say. She spent close to eleven hours with me, probing into my childhood up to my recent past. She wanted to know the eleven key relationships in my life. As we got talking, I was animatedly telling her every important incident in my life. The eleventh relationship, who was the turning point in my life, created all the breakthroughs in my life.

 “Success is the product of daily habits, not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.”

 The breakthroughs in our life need not necessarily be something humongous. But every small change we bring has a compounding effect on our overall growth and transformation. Every action that you take in that direction should take you closer to the person that you wish to become. There are habits that we need to pick up, and there are habits that we need to drop. To develop the right habits, first identify those and make a list. Break away from the pattern you have formed over the years. It is easier said than done. Much as we desire, we cannot do away with all the wrong habits all at once. Only one at a time.

 As a student, there are may be some areas in which you need to improve. Cultivating the habit of reading, practicing  a time for everything and everything in its time, or a place for everything and everything in its place, striving to achieve a good handwriting, remembering to take the required books for the day, completing your daily assignments, developing a study routine, being honest, not indulging in vices, overcoming anger, giving up tongue conscious food, knowing how important all of these are, and turning each of it as a right habit, is also a breakthrough.  

Transcending our habits may seem very trivial, but millions are struggling to come out of their habits. Addiction to television, to gadgets, to substance, to alcohol, and the list goes on. We need not even think of Einstein moments in our life. If we can break away from the habits or patterns in our life itself, we can make great progress and achieve eureka moments in our life. Begin from where you can and reach where you should reach in life. By doing away with one habit at a time, you will gain confidence to do away with the rest. The secret is, to never give up

 “When you are about to give up, your breakthrough is just around the corner.”

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

ARE YOU CONSTANTLY FIRE FIGHTING?

 

“Time management is not clock management, but life leadership.”

When I was new to my profession, I always found that I was literally panting for breath trying to meet deadlines. It made me feel tired and dissatisfied with whatever I was doing. I felt that there was no quality in what I was doing even if I was meeting deadlines. Lack of excellence always hurts me. I was upset with my own actions. I was constantly fire-fighting. One day I decided enough was enough and started working on making a proper plan for everything. I kept improvising on it. I invested a lot of time on what was important, but not urgent.  In course of time the schools received the NABET accreditation from the Quality Council of India. Automatically, systems came into place.

 

“That on which you invest time grows. That which is starved of your time shrinks.”

 

Even as students we tend to while away our time after school hours, with no proper plan to have a fixed study time at home. There is a lot of randomness in our daily activities. There is no goal. Each day goes in time wasters. Then comes a series of tests/exams and that’s when we realize that we have so much to study and very little time left. We keep fire-fighting. We get stressed not knowing from where to begin. We want to cry out loudly, but we cannot, as we ourselves are the cause for our misery. The day my std X result was to be announced, I was so full of apprehension. I cried bitterly. I made a silent pact with God that I will use my potential and that I will never waste my time. I realized my mistake. I had wasted a lot of my precious time. But, since then, I lived up to my promise and became very disciplined in my life. Today, I am not guilty of mismanaging my time, which is the greatest resource.

 

Why should we go through so much stress? In fact, we create our own stress. Nobody is responsible for it. Anything that is done in the last minute creates stress in us. So, we need to wisely plan our day to avoid disappointments and calamities in our life. This is true of our health too. All our life, we eat tongue conscious food and lead a sedentary lifestyle. The day we realize that it has taken a toll on our health, it is too late to make amends. The rest of our life we keep popping medicines, which becomes our food. Now we are ready to exercise every day, to save our life. But we cannot get back our health. When we do not utilize our time wisely, when we don’t prioritize, we have to keep fire-fighting constantly in life. I would urge everyone to identify which activity of theirs should go to which of the four quadrants of time management, important and urgent(Q1), important but not urgent (Q 2), not important but urgent(Q3), not important and not urgent(Q4). Invest more time on what is important. Else it will become urgent. Begin from where you can begin.

 

“Small beginnings

Incremental improvement

Sustained progress

Legendary possibilities.”

 

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

HOW DO YOUR DESIRES BECOME DESERVINGNESS?

                

 My mother used to always say, ”I need to pinch myself to believe that this school building is a reality.” An eighty-five thousand square feet building was definitely a far cry from a thatched shed! It took quite some years to achieve such a monumental growth. But it was always her dream to build a masterpiece for her students. And it happened one day. How? Through her consistent and relentless striving.

 I have always heard people expressing their dreams and desires and I never understood it at all. It was not about dreaming big, but more of wishful thinking. Man has endless desires in life. Some are logical, while some are illogical. Yet he keeps desiring for most and more. But by just dreaming and desiring, nothing happens. We need to work towards it.

 Mahatria Ra, the diviner of the Path, infinitheism, says, “Desires become deservingness only through consistent directed self-motivated effort.”

Let’s see what it means. Desires can come true only if we are consistent. Doing anything once in a way will not lead to progress and growth. That which is done on a daily basis will only help you achieve results. A student can achieve high scores only if he has a regular study time, a sportsman can win a game only if he practices every day, we can achieve good fitness level only if we exercise regularly, we can be healthy only if we eat heath conscious food on a daily basis. So, consistency is the key. This explains why each one became popular in their chosen field.

 Being consistent alone is not enough. Is our intelligence in the right direction? Define what you want to achieve and then choose what is the most suitable process. Participating in an inter-school competition is different from participating at the national level. The preparation is altogether different. Adopt the right method. The fitness level of an Olympian is far greater than that of a national champion. To be a topper at the state level in the Board exam calls for dedicated studies and much greater preparation. Give a direction to your desire.

 Those who are externally motivated do not achieve much growth. They wait to be pushed always. Only those who are intrinsically motivated reach very far in life as they are relentless and unstoppable. So, we need to be self-motivated. The goal itself should motivate us.

 Nothing is achieved without intelligent effort. Having defined your goal, find out what you need to drop and what you need to take up in order to achieve your goal. Time is the greatest resource in hand. How you utilize your time to achieve your goal makes all the difference. You should be ready to give up anything that is a deterrent to reaching your goal. Thus, your desires become deservingness.

 Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam said,” Dream is not that you see while sleeping. It is something that does not let you sleep.”

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting