Mindset

Technology has been developing at a staggering rate. In recent times, technological developments have started to outpace even the most active imaginations. Today, most manufacturing processes have been automated. Assembly lines have become common place. The importance of human labor in the manufacturing process has become almost negligent. We have gone from being the hands that made the goods, to being the eye that watches goods being made.

Technology has made a huge impact on our daily lives as well. We have vacuum cleaners to do our cleaning. Dish washers and washing machines, to wash our clothes and vessels. We have doors that sense our arrival and open on their own, chairs that adjust themselves to suit our postures. Japan is even inventing a machine that helps people walk. With so much being done for us, I can’t help but wonder what will we do? We don’t have to cook, just pop a meal in the microwave. We don’t have to walk; we have cars, busses, trains, mopeds, scooters and a number of other machines to take us places.

With newer technologies emerging every day to make our lives easier, will manual labor become obsolete? There are technologies in the pipeline that will even make it unnecessary for us to plug in our devices to charge them. If machines take care of everything, what will we do? Sure there will be some machines that will need to be taken care of, but how many people would be required to take care of them? These people would need technical training, and not all of us were made to deal with wires and chips. So, what happens to the rest of us?

There may come a time when all humanity will have to do is keep itself entertained. The question is; is such a time really something that we should be hoping for?

The universe is constantly moving. It is constantly doing things with or without your consent. Stock markets collapse, people get promoted, people get fired. The world spins madly on. It may all look like chaos, it may look like a mess, but the fact is that there is a pattern; we are just too small to see it.

Life gives you a choice, you can either roll with the punches or you can stand up for yourself and fight. We lose so many opportunities because we don’t have the courage to seize them. We are afraid of failure and we are even afraid of our own greatness, so we sit back and let opportunity pass us by. We could have had a great love with our first crush, we could have gotten that big promotion in the office, but we don’t, because we never asked. We never asked our crush how they felt, we never asked our superiors to consider us for a higher position or we never turned that idea into a business.

Then we complain. We never got what we feel we deserved. We never got what we didn’t ask for, what we didn’t fight for. Of course we don’t put it in those words. We say that life is unfair, that we are undervalued, that we are unlucky.

I believe that life isn’t something that just happens to us. We make our lives what they are by our actions and our inactions. We are the ones to blame. We are not puppets dancing to the beat of a puppet master. We are individuals capable of shaping our own destinies. We are responsible for our own choices.

If your life is not what you want it to be, then that is because you aren’t surrendering and doing enough. It’s easy to place blame on external factors. That is our coping mechanism. The truth is that we don’t have the things we want, simply because we never asked.

A lot of people think black cats are unlucky. There is a popular belief that says a rabbit’s foot brings good luck. You should never open an umbrella inside the house and a three leaf clover is a sign a good fortune. I couldn’t help but wonder, why a rabbit’s foot? Why not a rabbit’s tail? Or ear? Why not a mongoose’s foot? Why is it ok to wear a raincoat inside the house but it’s not okay to open an umbrella?

Is there any truth to these beliefs? If yes, what gave these objects their power? How come a rabbit’s foot is lucky, but a mongoose’s foot is just a foot? What makes these objects special? Do they have some intrinsic power? Or is it that they are special because we believe they are. Do black cats really bring bad luck? Or is that bad things sometimes just happen and we blame them on the cat?

We associate feelings to everything in the world around us. We have convinced ourselves that cockroaches are disgusting. The scientific fact is that they are the cleanest insect alive. We associate fear and disgust with a cockroach. The cockroach itself is just a cockroach. Just like a foot is just a foot, we are the ones who believe it is lucky.

If holding on to a rabbit’s foot gives a person peace of mind, if it makes them feel a little more confident, does it matter if their belief is false? Is there something wrong with associating good feelings to an object to make your self feel better? Is it really such a bad thing to believe in something ridiculous if it eases your anxiety? No it isn’t. There is no harm in having beliefs, just remember that life is only as good, or bad as you think it is.

The wind leaves a mark on the rocks that it passes over. It gives them shape and form. A tire leaves tracks on the ground it rolls over. The passing sun makes an impression on the world that passes below it. It marks the earth with both heat and shade. The people we meet shape us like the wind; they leave impressions and they mark us with both their love and their hate.

People leave footprints on our hearts. We remember the first time we were hugged, the first time we were scolded, the first time we fell in love and the first time we fought; each memory a different print left by a different person. These memories are what define who we are. They are the lens through which we see the world. It is the memory of getting burnt that reminds us to stay away from fire.

If any of these experiences were to change, we would not be the people we are today. If we had been scolded instead of hugged, if we had been rewarded instead of punished on any occasion; the lessons we took away from that moment would have been very different. Consequently we would be very different.

Some of these prints are seared into us. Feelings we will never forget. Others are like footprints in the sand. The tides of time wash them away. It is important to hold on to these memories, and more importantly, the feelings associated with these memories. It is only when we forget our childhood experiences that we truly become old.

The secret to eternal youth is not in the discovery of some obscure fountain. Eternal youth lies in the heart that has not lost the prints of its childhood feet.

A bird always knows when it’s time for the young to leave the nest. If you get too close to a beehive the bees will sting you, even if you don’t mean them any harm. There are some things that we do without even thinking about doing them.

Breathing is one such activity. The Planets revolve around the sun and trees grow. They “do” these things without really “doing” them.

This is known as Wu Wei, which means natural action. Knowing when (and how) to act is not about thinking “now” is the right time to do “this”. It is about simply doing, doing the natural thing. The aim of Wu Wei is to achieve a state of perfect equilibrium. A state where you always know what you need to do.

The literal meaning of Wu Wei is “without action” and is often included in the paradox wei wu wei: “action without action”. An example of active non-action using wu wei would be to teach in such a way that no course of action is dictated to a student (they are just told raw facts for use and left to their own creative devices), so they assume that they have been taught nothing, that is, until all they have learnt has been integrated in their lived experience.

I think the comic book summarization Zen Speaks says it best “A good teacher teaches the student that they already know the answer.”

When we choose to do an action, we are interfering with the natural way. Whenever we have to think about what needs to be done, we are thinking about manmade superficial matters. In any natural situation we just ‘know’ what to do. So, by reducing the number of things we have to think about doing, we reduce our interference with the natural order of things.

We’ve all grown up listening to fairytales. Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and so many more. Aren’t they typical? The prince always gets the princess, the step mother is always evil, the witch always pays for her deeds, the poor wolf always gets killed and of course, everyone lives happily ever after.

Fairytales are important for a child’s development. They have their own charm, I don’t dispute that. My only complaint is that they are too one dimensional. Good is always good, and bad is always bad. This may be true in magical kingdoms far, far away, but it is far from the truth in the real world.

The real world is not black and white. Things are not what they seem, nor are they so cut and dry. There is so much more to our lives than just happiness and sorrow, good and evil.

There is anger, hate, passion, love, lust, greed, joy, mercy; the list is endless. The world is made up of the seven colors of the rainbow and grey. Good people sometimes do bad things, and bad things happen to good people. Bad people can sometimes do incredibly nice things and good things happen to them too.

It is not always clear what the right thing to do is. Growing up is about making some very difficult decisions. We can’t always guarantee that our actions are going to have a positive effect. With so much moral dilemma, what code of conduct should one follow?

I say, forget ‘codes of conduct’, the only thing you should worry about, is doing the best that you can do. Always do what is right in your opinion. Sometimes, it’s best not to worry about the bigger picture.

In every game there are two kinds of players. There are those who are there to put on a show. They may or may not have power. They do their part and make a lot of noise while doing it. Then there are the real players. They are the ones who are in the background, the ones who influence the outcome of the game.

Let’s take a club for example. These are the players involved, there is the manager; he has the keys to everything. He decides the work schedule and hires the entertainment. There is the bartender who handles all the booze. There is the bouncer who maintains the decorum and there is the janitor who cleans up after everyone.

You have a long weekend coming up. You decide to go clubbing with your friends. They won’t let you in. Which player do you approach?  The manager has the most power but he’s not going to do you any favors. Why would he? The bartender has nothing to do with the door. The janitor probably has the most important job, but he can’t help you either. The one to approach is the bouncer. After all, he’s the one who decides who goes in.

With every game you play, you need to first identify the key players, the real players, who will get the job done. In theory, the manager is the most powerful player. He is at the top of the heap. In practice, sometimes it’s the ones with the least power that can help you the most. They can give you that appointment that just opened up. They can ensure your file reaches the right hands.

When you are dealing with an organization, think of it as a game. To get to the big players, you first need to make it past the small ones. Always know who the real players are.

Think of all those times when you were in trouble and you leaned on a friend. I’m talking about the hundreds of people we meet, and share a bond with. They may not be very close to us, but they still lend a helping hand. These are the people you laugh with at a party, the ones who gossip behind your back and the ones who tease you when you act like a fool. Of course you always return the favor.

You don’t need to have an exceptionally intimate bond with someone, for them to connect with you. We connect with people the second we meet them. We feel their pain and they feel ours. We do not know their history, their hopes and dreams, and still we care. Some call these people acquaintances. But I think they’re wrong, these are your friends.

Then, there are the people you trust with your lives. The one’s who’ve always been there. You know them; the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between. Are these your friends? No. They’re not just your friends; they are so much more than that.

They say, friends are the family we choose for ourselves. The best of our experiences are experiences we shared with a friend. The most vivid of our memories are the memories that are connected to friends. What would we do without them? We love them, we hate them and we can’t live without them.

Friends are what make life worth living. Wouldn’t it be great to have a friend at work too? You can’t hope to make a ‘friend’ if you don’t act like a ‘friend’ yourself. Be it business or pleasure, always remember, friendship comes first. Today is friendships day, so honor your friends, your foes and the world ambassador for friendship, honor, Winnie the Pooh.

Weltanschauung: world view. It refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual interprets the world and interacts with it. If it were possible to draw a map of the world on the basis of Weltanschauung, it would probably be seen to cross political borders.

The world view of a person doesn’t take into account the imaginary line drawn by politicos. A person’s world view is not something that can be built in a day. Our outlook of the world, as a whole is created over millennia. It is influenced by the experiences, beliefs and ideas of the generations that came before us.

We have a lot in common with people who share the same world view as us. This does not mean someone with a different world view is wrong, it simply means that we relate better with people who think like us.London and Ireland are vastly different. Yet, a person from London would never describe Ireland as exotic. Breath taking and beautiful but not exotic.

The two places share a common world view. Subconsciously, we do not feel a huge difference. If that same Londoner was to come to Mumbai, he would say that he was in an exotic land. Both Mumbai and London are densely populated urban sprawls, not very clean and very fast paced. The difference is not in the obvious. The difference is in the way a Londoner and a Mumbaikar looks at the world.

With the world becoming a global economy, it is important to understand different world views. It is important to know one’s own world outlook. If we can understand the ancient influences on people’s thinking, we can relate to them better. Understanding our own thinking helps us grow. So, do you know your Weltanschauung?

Yesterday, I was thinking about ideologies and since then I haven’t been able to stop. I proposed that ‘We are what we think.’ What that means is that we make decisions based on our thoughts and opinions. Our decisions shape our lives. How we live our lives, defines who we are. Thus our thoughts and opinions eventually define our personalities.

Our thought process influences our decision making ability. Imagine you have a cat. One day on your way home from work, you find an abandoned puppy.  You believe that cats and dogs cannot live together. Even though you are capable of taking care of that puppy, even though you have the desire to take it home, you don’t. There is ample proof of the fact that felines and K9’s can co-exist; especially if they are introduced to one another at an early age. You know this. Your belief forces you to over ride common sense. This is the power of ideology.

Ideologies influence people in every part of their lives. From the decisions they make while dealing with friends, while shopping and at home. This got me thinking, how much do personal beliefs affect business decision making? More importantly, should personal beliefs influence decision making?

If you are involved in business activities, you need to have an objective mind. You need to be able to make the right decisions without hesitation. The problem is, that our ideologies are so deeply engrained that they influence us at a subconscious level. So, whenever you are making a business decision, disassociate yourself from the situation. Analyze it without any personal pre-existing inferences.  Ensure that your decision is based on the facts in front of you and not on the facts based in your thinking.