Learn to Fly

"ZOOM OUT. WHAT FEELS LIKE A BIG BLOT TODAY WILL BE A SMALL DOT TOMORROW." so perfectly put by Radhika Gupta in her new book " Limitless-The power of unlocking your true potential".

Rejection and failure are an integral part of our lives. But first rejection seems so difficult to fathom. In March 2004, I tasted failure for the first time when I got rejected in the first round of campus interviews organized by ICAI in Mumbai. I had always been a 90-plus percent kid securing first or second position, rank holder in 10th and 12th boards, and had cleared CA in the first attempt. So never had the thought of getting rejected cross my mind. It was not that I was a very ambitious girl dreaming of some extraordinary corporate career but I never wished to fail. I always wished to do my best. I came from Nagpur, a comparatively smaller town, with limited exposure and the expanse of this city, the overall atmosphere at campus at Colaba, the way this city seems to function was too much for me. I returned back to my hometown. Fast forward 5 years I returned back to the city of dreams with enhanced confidence and cleared 10-12 interviews in a row . I got job offers in a private bank, top hospitality companies, and top manufacturing companies around the same time. But as destiny had some other plans didn't take any of them.

I feel I never had the vision of what I really wanted in life at that time. I took each day as it came and tried to give my best to whatever came my way. It is after years of varied experiences, and experiments I have come to understand my temperament, my liking, my shortcomings, and what I really want in life, what makes me happy in the true sense. Good marks and a good degree can never assure a so-called defined career path. They are just indicative of our IQ, and EQ levels.How we use them creatively to discover our calling and our purpose in life is the real skill test.

Money is an important element for a good comfortable life but it is not necessarily the motivator for all . Every individual has something which can stir their soul to perform or get into action. But this may not be money or position. It can be love for something or someone, it can be a dream to be a change-maker bringing about real changes, or simply a preference for stability or no change.

As the author rightly says,

"Documented or not, all of us need an internal mandate that defines what matters to us and what doesn’t. Do we seek money, impact, growth, or a job that gives us time to pursue other passions? Do the ethics of an organization matter, or does scale matter, or do the kind of people we work with matter? The beauty of the personal mandate is that there is no right and wrong answer because all of them are deeply particular to us. When they are clear, mandates help create purpose."

The author has wonderfully narrated her lessons while pursuing a degree and then a corporate career in a lucid manner and I could relate to it so much..Yeah, I have experienced this too - I felt it many times though in a different setup altogether. Being a film bluff myself I really enjoyed the movie examples she has given at places.

Life is never easy for anyone. We all have to fight varied battles at different points in time and we do come out victorious if we take life lessons with a positive perspective. I discovered I love writing as much as I love preparing MIS reports in my thirties. I have found a way to balance both and when the author talks about work-life harmony I couldn't agree more.

Thanks, Radhika Gupta for coming up with this wonderful book which shall surely be an inspiration for those who are about to start a career and a guiding light for souls like me who believe in experimenting in search of their life purpose.