Be yourself! Be the Game changer
“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you will gain easily what others have laboured hard for.”
- Socrates
In our practical life we listen a lot about thinking different. Many people say that they have changed their thinking and changed their attitudes. You may also have heard Shiv Khera’s famous lines “Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently.” If you are a fan of Apple and Steve Jobs, you may also have heard “Think different” often. Many times I think “Are people really thinking same?”, “Where are the creative thoughts?”, “Where is curiosity?”, “What is going wrong?”,
There are no answers for these questions. My experience and observations has taught me some things which insisted me to write this article.
First of all let me define ‘Herd poisoning’. Herd poisoning means when we are in a crowd or group, we don’t use common sense or intellectual power. We have inborn tendency to follow the crowd. Our behaviour and work are directly affected by the performance of group. So the best advice for you is to avoid thinking together with the crowd. Think independently. The crowd will lead you nowhere. Always think logically when the decisions or actions are taken by a crowd. Let me give you a simple example. When there are huge protests or violent activities, many individual join it. People just enjoy because they are in a huge group. The leaders or the doers of this group just disappear as soon as the police arrive. People who are caught by Police are common individuals. Sometimes, they find themselves trapped. The best possible thing to do is to remain away from ‘Crowd poisoning’. If you want to change the system, you should be the part of system.
TO FIND YOURSELF, THINK FOR YOURSELF……Socrates
‘Be yourself! Be the game changer’ also sticks to that maxim that you should be a part of system and you can change the system. Many servicemen complain that they want to leave their jobs because their boss is very bad and treating him/her badly or scolding him. Many housewives complain that their mothers in laws are cause for all the problems. Students complain that their lecturers are causing troubles for them. All these people in one way or other try to escape from the system. They like the system in which they are but due to one person they want to escape from the system. Is this fair? You think that your boss is not good with you and you want to leave your job. My advice to you is to be a game changer.
Who is a game changer? You may be thinking of a Cricket Match where a player comes in the crunch situation. His team may be facing a danger of defeat. Everybody has accepted defeat mutely. Suddenly, a person has different ideas in his mind and he plays extra ordinarily and wins the match for his team. He proves himself to be a game changer. This same phenomenon applies to our lives. When you are facing problems at Office, house or anywhere else, don’t worry. Don’t think like rest of the guys. Think that you are capable of facing them and you can prove out to be the best. Though current situation is not in your hands you can change the game and change your life.
How to be a game changer?
1. Focus on your role/ work:
If you want to be a game changer, first of all you should focus on your role or your work, your ethics and your behaviour. You should try to become cent percent efficient in your work. You should not waste time in gossiping or rumours.
You should try to be versatile in your work. You should develop expertise in at least one field of work. This seems to be contradictory expert and versatile. Don’t worry. Take the example of Narendra Modi. He started his journey as a tea-seller then an ordinary worker or Sangh. He was then made CM of Gujarat and then PM. What you are doing is important but how you are doing that thing is the most important thing. So, focus on your role i.e. your responsibilities and duties. Ask yourself. “Am I doing my duty properly?”
2. Be a good listener:
Main reason for almost all of the problems is ‘nobody is ready to listen others’. Everybody sings his own praises. The best thing that can be done is listening to others properly. Everybody has different point of view and ideas. If you find new ideas worthwhile and important you can follow them. If you think that those ideas are of no use, you may ignore them. So, don’t underestimate or overestimate anybody. Practice Listening skills. Make a choice on logic level and then act accordingly. Sometimes, small ideas have bigger outcomes. Don’t ignore anybody.
3. Act according to situations:
You may have seen frogs. In monsoon season, they appear everywhere in plenty. They are just enjoying in rain. Where do they go in cold winter season or hot summer season? The answer is hibernation. They go into deep sleep similar to comma during winter and summer. The main reason is they cannot change seasons. They have adjusted accordingly. One more example. Carefully observe a tree in your neighbourhood in all seasons. The tree will with full blossom and fruits in Springtime. It would be desperate in autumn with less leaves. It may be struggling in Summer due to less water and in Winter it would be shedding leaves. The best part will be that the tree will always spread its cool shade in almost all the seasons. The message of metaphor is quite clear: Nature is language. Success or failure is just part of one season. You can’t misjudge your entire life by one season. So, the nature gives advice to everybody that act according to situations. In hard times you can adjust a bit.
“An unexamined life is not worth living.” ….. Socrates
4. Don’t argue with stupid ones:
Being a part of the team never fell in arguments with stupid people. Arguing with stupid ones is dangerous; first they take you down to their level then beat you with their experiences. Arguing with boss is also a wrong thing. If you are right and your boss is wrong, indirectly show him truth. Never let him down. If you let your boss down, your will destroy your good-will.
5. Note down or remember mistakes/blunders of others:
When your boss or your competitor makes a mistake, keep a note of that. Remember the minute possible detail of that thing. It has two main advantages. First we can learn a lot from his mistake and the next is those mistakes can be used by us at a proper time. You might have heard the story of Vishvanathan Anand. When he was very young, he had match against Champion of the previous year. He was very nervous about that. His mother advised him to forget the name and fame of the opponent and play positively. In the game, the opponent made a mistake and Anand made the best of it and won the match and also Championship. Thus, concentrate deeply on your work and also keep a eye on opponent’s mistake.
6. Be a participant:
There are certain works or functions or parties or things which you may not like to do. You should be a participant in all the group activities. You cannot just avoid the group activities in your office or in your house. Sometimes there may occasions of happiness like marriage functions or birthday parties. There may be occasions of sorrow like attending funeral functions or a member is admitted to hospital. Develop a habit of sharing sorrows of others. In Gujarati there is a proverb which states that you should always attend the sorrowful events of others though you may not attend the functions of happiness. The best piece of information that I may give you is to be a participant in each and every occasion.
7. Think out of the box:
There will be times and a situation when nothing is going right. Nobody has anything positive to talk about. In such situations, think out of the box. Go to a lonely place; try to get inspiration from nature. Try to analyze each and every fact, try to understand the problem and note down some positive solutions for the problem. Seek advice from the experienced ones and take their help. Imagine that you are the only person who has to solve that problem. Remember that problems are opportunities in disguise. If you solve them, you will turn out to be the winner. So welcome problems and solve them.
“Strong minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” … Socrates
8. Make the things happen:
You may be working or living with those people who will totally disagree with you. It is your duty to take the charge and make the things happen. Selecting an impossible task is good but the best thing is accomplishing that task. Sometimes, you may be full of despair that I am the one who is made responsible for all small and big works. Take positive from it, perform your level best and you can show to world. If you think that you are performing the best, the world will also know it sooner or later.
These are the steps, you may follow them and they will help you a lot in you work.
Our world is full of game changers. Let me tell you about Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna himself was the greatest game changer. He wanted to destroy the Kauravas and so he led them to Mahabharata. Though he didn’t use any weapons but he directed Pandavas for the mammoth task and destroyed the Kauravas. Then the truth became victorious. The moral is quite simple: Majority does not mean truth. Ten dogs barking together do not mean that they can defeat a lion. Same thing applies for our lives too.
Galileo was also a game changer in Astronomy. When everybody believed that the earth is in the centre of universe and sun revolves around it, Galileo challenged them. He invented Telescope and showed the world that they all were wrong. Even today he is remembered for his great contribution.
Mahatma Gandhi was also a game changer. He was insulted by English in Africa. He was not allowed to travel in first class compartment and was thrown out of the train. He swore to drive out the English from India and was finally succeeded in it. He also quoted that once India would be free, all other slave nations will drive them out. Consequently, British Empire ended in all the colonies of the world. Thus, Bapu was also a game changer.
Maharana Pratap was also a game changer. He fought against the vast Mughal Empire to save his motherland. He had less men power and less resource. Yet he fought till the end and finally he was succeeded. When he died, his arch rival Akbar burst into tears.
In modern times, Sachin Tendulkar is a game changer. Somebody told about a match, when Sachin and Ganguly came to know in advance that India will definitely lose the cricket match as it was fixed. Sachin was disappointed because many of his team members would not play well in that match. He shouldered the responsibility on his hand and with the help of Ganguly, he took India to a winning position and finally they won the match for the country. I personally remember a match at Sarjaha stadium in UAE which was against Australia. India was chasing a huge total of more than 300 runs. During India’s batting a desert storm obstructed the play and when it ended India was in a dangerous conditions. Indians feared the thought of being disqualified from the next level. At that time, Sachin played a marvellous innings of 145 runs and led India to the next level.
We can find thousands of examples of these game changers in the world. We can learn at least one thing from them i.e. ‘Dare to think and perform differently’. Resources, condition, circumstances may not favour you but your self-confidence will never let you down. So be yourself and be a game changer.
“ The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” …Socrates
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