A blog a day (#6)

GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN LIFE

About nine years ago, my son was selected for a job during campus placement. He felt that it was a "dream company", as the guys say nowadays. While mulling over how I can advise him about his entry into corporate life, I thought telling him anything technical or behavioural may not cut any ice. So I thought to mention something that can stay with him throughout his life. The following "Guiding Principles in Life" came about after a bit of thought. I sent this as an email to him. He said he liked what I had written, but the import of these points did not impact him as much as it did about 5-6 years later after he had worked in that organisation for a few years. I am copy-pasting the content (without editing anything). Do see whether anything applies to you in your individual life!

1. Pursuit of Excellence: Whatever you do, try to do it well. Ensure that you perform the tasks so that the person for whom the task is meant for gets the result of your best efforts. Even if you are making tea, for example, try to make tea so that the person(s) for whom the tea is meant for realize(s) that you have put in your best efforts. If you are performing an analysis, remember to first understand what the customer wants. The customer is not necessarily the person who is going to use the result; it may be a person who needs to perform some other tasks on the process before it reaches the customer. That other person - a part of your team or your organisation - then becomes your customer. Always remember that HOW you do your work is not necessarily the best way to do it. There will always be a BETTER way. Try to think about HOW to perform your task or process in a better way - always. That is the only way to pursue EXCELLENCE.
2. This too shall pass: Remember that all things in this world are ephemeral. Happiness, sorrow, difficulty, troubles, joy, ecstasy, success, failure.....all are just passing clouds. Do not let sorrow, difficulty, or failure deter you or disappoint you so much that you delve deep into it and feel bad. Remember this maxim. This too shall pass. Regroup yourself, rethink your approach or strategy, and work harder. The cloud will pass. Conversely, let not success or achievement cloud your vision into thinking that you are ALWAYS the best and WILL REMAIN infallible. This too shall pass. Remain humble. In success, plan for your future.
3. Never run after money: On the contrary, see Principle No 1. Try to find happiness in what you have. The more you run after money, the less will be your attachment and love towards what you now have. Enjoy the moment. If you are good, and I mean very good, in what you do, money will chase you. But since you don't attach too much importance to money, you will be happy with what you get. Money, in this case, encompasses all material wealth.
4. Respect others: Remember others are human. If you respect others, you will earn the same respect from them. This is something that cannot be bought, whatever be the money you have or shower. It needs to be earned through proper conduct. Never hesitate to learn good things from anyone - be it a garbage collector, a maid-servant, a bus driver, a porter. or a security guard whom you will come across in life. When your focus is on learning from others, you will immediately develop a respect for them. Say a lot of 'Thank you', 'sorry', 'please'.
5. Have a hobby: It is important to have a hobby, and spend time on that regularly. Hobby could be anything, but should be such that you devote time to it.
6. Learn one new skill every three years: Don't take your existing knowledge and skill for granted. Mankind has always been on a quest to improve the quality of life; and towards that end, we have been seeing continuous automation and mechanisation - result is that what we know and develop expertise can be replaced by a machine! So you need to reinvent yourself and keep reinventing yourself every few years.
7. Meditate: Life is stressful and search for success is not smooth. You will face this situation sometime in the future. It is better to prepare yourself mentally and physically for the demands of the corporate world. Take time off to meditate or pray or do any such activity that relaxes your mind and body.
8. Exercise: Once you start on a job, and a sedantary job at that, the first casualty is body. You will start losing strength in the limbs - the one that needs to be strong to support you life-long. Exercise is compulsory. You now walk maybe a couple of kilometers a day - maybe two three times too - when you move from one place to the other in your college. When you start working, this is likely to stop. Don't let it come in the way. Devote 30-45 minutes each day for exercises - could be yoga or a walk or both.